It's A Beautiful Virtual Day Outside
by Neovilus Alpheim
Summary: None could truly understand how the Cardinal System operates other than the fact that it collects data to produce 'interesting' results; be it spawn balancing, generation of new quests, or etc. What if... the System decided to keep things interesting by giving a player a certain power from another game? ...chances are though, he's just a dirty hacker, isn't he? yeah, get outta here
1. The (Arguably Boring) Day It All Began

so...

...is this my cue to say hello?

guess the summary piqued your interest, didn't it?

well... as you might already know, which i think you DO, i would've skipped this whole narration…

…but that just wouldn't now, would it?

yeah, you're the type of person who won't EVER be satisfied. you'll keep reading fanfictions over and over, until... well. you write one; become a PART of one.

…or until you simply don't read anymore.

so you want to know how i became what i am now, don'cha? heh, go figure.

welp, don't expect too much from me, cuz' you probably know this already, but i'll say it again...

i'm not a hero; nor will i ever be.

after all, that's all sans' supposed to be: an ever-smiling bag o' hollow bones and fleshless holes; never a hero nor a villain.

…i'm not judging though. i'd never exist without folks like you reading this story.

nah, just kidding.

anyway, enough of this boring intro, let's just get to the point.

* * *

 _ **6**_ _ **th**_ _ **of November, 2022**_

* * *

It was the day it all began; the day the SAO server was officially online for the _**lucky**_ 10,000 players who managed to get their hands on the NerveGear technology.

The NerveGear was one of the most incredible and revolutionary fruit of the human intellect. An invention that allowed one to transmit their consciousness to a much greater system via manipulating the brain's electronic impulses for various purposes; in this case, entertainment; _**game**_.

However, no one could have foreseen what would happen on this very day. No one was prepared for the horrifying truth about what everybody thought was supposed to be a wonderful invention. No one was ready for this kind of game **.**

 _ **heh, then again, no one ever prepared anyone for anything**_ _ **.**_

"I'm home!" Spoke a boy named Akiyoshi Mizuki as he closed the door of his house.

"I'm home, mom! Look! I got perfect—"

He entered the living room and froze when he saw his mother, who was sitting on the sofa, holding a bottle of alcohol with a tired and lifeless look clearly etched on her face.

His mother glared at him in silence, but then looked away in disgust as she took another drink from the bottle, muttering something that was barely audible, yet loud enough for him to hear.

" _ **Just go die."**_

The boy flinched and stayed silent then he smiled as if nothing happened and proceeded to go upstairs toward his room without another word, holding a few sheets of paper in his hand.

He entered his room and read the papers that he was holding. They were his school's test sheets with big, red, 'A'-s written on each and every single one of them.

However, instead of feeling proud or happy like most students would, he crumpled those papers and threw it away into his trash can with an empty look. He sat on the edge of his bed staring at the trash can emotionlessly for a few minutes until he saw something at the edge of his vision. It was a small copy of a one particular game that he had been waiting for since he pre-ordered it; Sword Art Online.

He reached for the box and stared at the title then looked up toward the clock which read ten o'clock in the morning.

Why was he home so early from school? The NerveGear technology was the first functional invention that allowed one to connect one's consciousness into a digital world. In fact so revolutionary and popular was the technology that the school decided to finish early to commemorate the device's official launch in the name of virtual reality education.

Most would question why the school would do such thing as finishing early for the sake of what was nothing more than a game, but hey, no one was complaining. Besides it was understandable since this one game took place in a, technically, different universe; everybody would be curious. In fact not only schools, but most workplaces also decided to take the day off for similar reasons.

Anyway, he sighed, seeing that there wasn't any point in thinking about what happened so he decided to let it slide. He was used to it.

He turned on his computer and thought about what to do for the next three hours until the SAO Server is online. He looked over the icons on his desktop and stopped when he saw an icon that brought him a feeling of nostalgia. It was an icon of a pixelated red heart with the name, " _ **Undertale"**_. He smiled and clicked on it.

How long has it been since he last played Undertale? He couldn't remember. In fact he couldn't remember playing any games until this very day after all the shits he went through.

He shook his head and decided not to think about it as he focused on the game when the protagonist who was called Frisk met a living skeleton called Sans.

A feeling of excitement made him forget every negative thought he just had recently.

After all, Sans had always been an inspiration for him. The perfect personification of someone that knew well how much of a burden, unforgiving and cruel life could be, yet, despite knowing all of those cold truth of reality, could still put a smile on his face and convince others that life was something to be glad about; something to cherish.

Whenever he was sad, whenever he felt that he was hurting deep inside and think that he just wanted to end all of his pain at that very moment, he'd think about Sans and all the sufferings that he went through then realize that his suffering paled in comparison to what he suffered; he realized that somewhere out there someone else was suffering through the same shit that he went through, if not worse. Sure, Sans was nothing more than an imaginary character, but even up to this very day he still wondered how Sans managed to stay _**sane**_ for so long; unless you count the fact that he was created that way by the creator of the game.

Heck, he didn't even know if Sans _**was**_ sane.

Two and a half hours flew by and he had beaten the game with a True Pacifist End. He stretched his body and felt the need to go the bathroom so he went downstairs to do his business.

Before going back upstairs, he decided to check on his mother and found her sleeping on the sofa; drunk. He smiled and covered her in a blanket before going back upstairs.

He closed the door to his room and looked at the clock which read 12:49 PM.

"Well, then… better get ready."

He pulled out a box out of his closet and on it was a name of what was inside, "NerveGear". He was lucky enough to get his hand on it when he became a beta tester for the game, but he stopped playing midway when… let's just say that something shitty happened to his family.

He shook his head. He didn't need to remember it; didn't want to remember it.

He changed. He had become one of the best students in his school to make his mother proud. He didn't care about the fact that his mother ignored and treated him badly like she did. All he did care about was that he tried everything that he could to make his mother happy and wouldn't stop until he could actually make his mother smile again. No matter how much she hated him, he would always love her.

But still… that didn't mean that he was _**fine.**_

He plugged in the NerveGear to his computer and the internet port and got ready to dive into the game; the clock on his visor read 12:58 PM.

He began to countdown and as the time reached one o'clock, he spoke.

"Link Start."

Then everything around him turned white as flurry of colors began to fly all around him.

 **[Sight: OK]**

 **[Touch: OK]**

 **[Hearing: OK]**

 **[Taste: OK]**

 **[Smell: OK]**

 **[Login or Register account?]**

He thought about it for a while, but then chose to register a new account; it wasn't as if his old account had anything in it since he stopped right after he only played for a day or two.

His world then became dark as a bubble chat floated right in front of him.

 **[Registering new account.]**

 **[Please enter new username: …]**

Scanning his brain for an idea, he tried to come up with a new username that he'd like to use. He couldn't come up with anything original so then he began to recount the last things he did today to help him in coming up with an idea for a new username… but unfortunately, nothing came to mind so he gave up trying to—

Then he got it.

 **[Username: sans_the_skeleton]**

 **[Password: ********]**

 **[Will this be your new account?]**

 **[Y/N]**

He snickered when he thought about how funny it would be if the game would actually say, "nope," like it did in _**Undertale**_. He took a deep breath and pushed the yes button then waited for the game to register his new account.

However…

"Why is this taking so long? It wasn't this long when I first made my acc—"

Before he could finish his sentence the world around him flickered uncontrollably as discolored pixels were popping out of nowhere and disappearing from every direction.

He had a look of shock and confusion when this happened, but then the world returned to what it was before.

"W-What the hell? A glitch?"

Then a chat bubble appeared in front of him and on it was an ominous message.

 **[y'sure, kid? cuz' y'll be burdened with a great responsibility. well… it's not like you can turn back now anyway so i'll leave ya with a lil' warning:**

 _ **Don't die**_ **.**

 **if you do? well…**

… **you're gonna have a bad time.]**

"W-wha—?"

Before he could finish again, the space around him turned to white followed by the same flurry of colors that he saw when he started his link. Then a single sentence floated in front of him.

 **[WELCOME TO SWORD ART ONLINE!]**

The bright flurry of colors came rushing at him again and he was forced to close his eyes as the brightness blinded him.

When the lights were gone, he slowly opened his eyes and was met with the view a clear blue sky. He blinked a couple of times and began inspecting his body and what he noticed was that it felt… _**real**_ ; _**too**_ real.

He looked around him and saw players logging into the Beginner Town and he noticed another thing: he could see, hear, and feel _**too**_ _**clearly**_.

Despite his relatively short experience as a beta tester for the game, he could still remember how real his in-game body then compared to his real body, but this time, it was different. His body felt too real even when he compared it to his real body.

One other thing that he noticed was that he could see numbers on top of peoples head. Most of those he saw was the number 1.

Confusion was etched on his face as he was trying to make sense of the world around him, but before he could even come up with an explanation, he noticed something on his HUD that shocked him to the core.

"My HP is… 1?"

* * *

"Finally... I'm back to this world!" Muttered a boy excitedly as he smiled.

He had an avatar of a tall and charming boy with a neck-long jet-black hair and a bang that covered one side of his face.

"Well then… time to get to work."

With that, he began to run through the town seeking a particular NPC for quests that would earn him quite a lot of EXP and Col, which was the in-game currency of SAO.

Being a beta tester had its perks.

As he thought about his strategies to level up and get a lot of essential items and equipments as soon as possible, he began to lose focus to where he was going thus causing him to accidentally bump into a boy that was standing in the middle of his way.

With a thud, they both fell and landed on the ground painfully.

The boy groaned, "Ugh… S-Sorry about that I—"

"OW!" The boy he crashed into yelled with a pained look.

"O-Oi, calm down! You can't feel pain in this world!"

"Can't… feel… pain? T-Then why did I feel it?" He asked with a look of shock and confusion.

"Huh? What are you—?"

"H-Hoi! You there, please just. Stop. _**Running**_!" A red haired man ran towards us and panted heavily when he reached them, "Huff… puff… Man, I wondered if you were ever gonna stop…"

"Uh, me?"

"Yeah, you! I saw you running around a few moments ago like you already know this area so I followed you. Say, you're a beta tester, aren't you?"

"W-well, yeah."

"Seems like I was right! You see, today's my first day ever in SAO, so I was wondering if you could teach me the basics!"

"U-Uh… I don't know—"

"Please, man, I'm begging you! I'm Klein and nice to meet you!" He extended a hand.

The boy sighed and smiled as he shook Klein's hand. "I'm Kirito."

Klein then looked over toward the boy that Kirito crashed into.

"Aaand what's your name? You're Kirito's friend, right?"

The boy still had a look of confusion and shock, so Kirito decided to clear up the misunderstanding.

"No, I accidentally bumped into him just now. Say, are you okay?"

"H-huh? Well… yeah, I guess."

"So are you a newbie too?" Klein asked excitedly.

"Technically… yes."

"Technically?" Kirito asked with a puzzled look.

"…F-Forget it." The boy shook his head and took a deep breath, looking calmer than he was. "Sorry, I was just… confused about a few things. Anyway! The name's Sans. Sans the Skeleton."

"…Really? You don't look like a skeleton." Kirito deadpanned.

"It's from an old game… never mind. So, Kiri…Kirito… was it? Anyway, are you going to show Klein the basics of SAO?"

"Yes, I am, why?"

"Oh, well, obviously, I was hoping that I could join you both, but if you don't want me to, that's fine too. After all, being in a party meant that you gotta split the exp and col gained to each members of the party, so I understand if you refuse."

Kirito flinched when the boy called Sans seemed to just read his mind. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly as a feeling of guilt washed over him, "When you put it like that…"

"Hahaha! C'mon, you're not an asshole that's gonna ignore a noob in need now, are you?"

Kirito froze then looked serious, "…Who knows?"

"Wait… seriously?" Klein stopped laughing.

Kirito chuckled, "I'm joking." He turned toward the boy called Sans and said, "Yeah, you can join us. 'The more, the merrier,' as the saying goes."

"Really? Thank you so much!"

"It's nothing, don't worry about it."

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Please teach us, Kirito-sensei!" Klein spoke enthusiastically.

* * *

'Sans' was confused. These strange things that had been occurring since he made his new account had worried him to the core.

He began to think about the possibility of his NerveGear to malfunction which then begs the question, _**was his consciousness going to be alright?**_

For God's sake! Even the glitch skipped the part where he was supposed to be making his new avatar so he didn't even know what he looked like! How was he supposed to calm down?!

 **[M-Maybe it's just a server glitch? A bug? Y-Yeah! The Game Master would probably know what to do! I-I just gotta have to contact him later if the bug isn't fixed soon!]** he thought optimistically.

"—OI, SANS!" Kirito shouted right to his ears.

"Ouch! Oh, god, _**WHY**_ , Kirito? _**Why?!**_ " He massaged his ears in pain as they rung so painfully as if a flashbang exploded right in front of his ears.

"Geez, what's wrong with you? I told you, we can't feel pain in this world."

"I'm not lying to you, Kirito! I really _**do**_ feel it!"

"Feel what?"

"The pain!" He told him seriously.

"Huh? No way. That's impossible—"

But before Kirito could dismiss Sans' claim, Klein screamed loudly as he was running towards the two of them with multiple wild boars chasing after him.

"HELP MEEEE!"

Kirito sighed as he readied his sword. He held a stance for a few seconds and at that same time, his sword began to glow.

After the boars were close enough, Kirito unleashed his skill and cut them all down in one slash.

"W-whoa, that was close. I owe you one, bro."

"It's fine. Just be careful next time."

"I will, I will, but more importantly, what was that? Your sword glowed then suddenly the boars are dead."

" _ **That**_ is how you use sword skills in this world."

"Oh, I see! Wait… how, exactly?"

"Wait… you've been running around fighting these wild boars without even knowing how to use a sword skill?"

"Yes?"

Kirito suppressed the urge to facepalm and settled with a long sigh. "Okay… listen. First, you simply ready you sword, then after holding a stance, any stance, for a few second or so, you strike your enemy."

"Uh, I don't get it."

"Think of it as if you are firing a laser beam. First you ready the laser then after a few second of charging it up, you unleash it in one go."

"Hmm… okay, I think I got it."

Klein got up and readied his sword at a boar then after charging up an attack, he killed it in one strike.

Kirito smiled and congratulated him as he began to bounce in joy.

"Congratulation, but why are you so happy? Did you know that the wild boars here are an equivalent of blue slimes from most RPGs?"

"E-Eeeh, are kidding me? These things are the _**weakest**_ monster in the game? I thought they were mini-bosses or something!"

Kirito and Sans sweat dropped.

"Right… So, Sans, as I was saying, are you going to just stand here or what?"

"Uh, Kirito, haven't you noticed something... weird about my HP bar?"

"HP bar? What are you talking about, it's still full—"

He widened his eyes when he realized something.

"Your HP is…1?"

"Huh, what's up?" Klein asked.

"Ah, no, it's just… wait, why is Sans' HP is only 1?"

"What are you—wait… huh? That's weird. I'm level 1 too, but my HP is 500."

"What is this, Sans?"

"That's what _**I**_ want to know! It was like that since the first time I logged in!" He retorted in exasperation.

"…Maybe it's a bug?" Klein suggested.

"Hmm… I have an idea. Maybe it's just a level 1 bug?"

"Level 1 bug?" Both newbies questioned in unison.

"Well, I'm not sure either, but let's try to get Sans to level 2 first and see what happens when his stats increases."

"I'm game, but why don't he just try to die and respawn?" Klein asked.

"Well, that might work too. What do you think?"

Sans was about to agree to what Klein suggested, but then remember the ominous warning he got when he made this new account.

 **[** _ **Don't die**_ **. if you do? well…**

… **you're gonna have a bad time.]**

"Sans? You there man? Ooooi, Sans!" Klein waved his hand in front of his face.

"U-Uh, I'd prefer not to die, if possible." He forced a smile.

"Well… even if it's a game, I guess it is kind of wrong to tell you to go and try to die." Klein understood.

"Okay, then we'll try my idea first then." Kirito deduced then turned toward Klein, "Let's start grinding!"

"Alright! I'm fired up!"

* * *

Sans was both angry and afraid. He was angry that he became a burden for his two new friends and afraid of what was happening. Since the very start he felt that something was wrong and he had a bad feeling about this game.

He had forgotten how to check his menu to see the details so he constantly checked on his level via his HP bar (There's a small Lv. 1 on top of his HP bar). So far, it hadn't changed one bit.

On the other hand, Kirito and Klein were now laying down on the grass as the virtual sun was setting over the horizon.

Above their heads, Sans could see that the number on their heads had turned to five. He figured out that the numbers he saw on top of peoples head were supposed to be the levels of players. He didn't want to ruin the moment with another question of this weird bug, so he stayed silent.

Klein then asked, "You know, whoever made this game is a genius. Just look at how real everything is."

"Yeah, it is."

"It probably obvious but I'm really excited about everything ever since I logged in. I mean, this is my first Full VR game, why wouldn't I be excited, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"You know, the day they released the official date for the NerveGear, I rushed to the closest game store and waited for days to get my hands on the hardware and the game. I was really happy to be able to buy one considering the fact that there were only ten thousand copies on sale." He chuckled and continued, "But I guess you're ten times luckier since you're a beta tester. After all there are only one thousand beta testers!"

"I guess so."

"Hey, Kirito, how far did you go when you were still a beta tester?"

"Hmm, how far, huh? I've only ever gotten to the 8th Floor and even that took months." Kirito then lifted his sword and smiled with a determined look, "But now? I'm going to get there in one month."

"Ahahaha, you're really into it, aren't you?" Klein commented then he remembered that Sans was still there.

"Well… how do I put this… Whenever I wield my sword in this world, I just can't help but feel like it was natural. Like I was meant for this world. Even when I compared my life here to the real one, I feel more alive here than in the real world."

"I see…" Klein then turned toward Sans, "Yo, Sans, you okay? You're being so quiet."

Kirito then stood up after he regained his breath and asked, "So, any changes yet, Sans?"

"I don't know why, but I'm still level 1."

"What? It _**still**_ didn't work?" Klein asked in disbelief.

"We're both level 5 now and you're still stuck as a level 1 even though we're in the same party? How is that possible?" Kirito frowned.

"I don't know, but—"

"Ah! That's right, I gotta go! I ordered a pizza at 5:30 and it's already 5 o'clock. Sorry guys, but I'm logging out first."

"Oh really? Okay then. Don't worry about me, I'm fine." Sans reassured him.

"Well then… how do I log out, Kirito-sensei?"

"What the—How could you not know about something so important?!"

"Actually… I don't know how to do it, too."

"Really, Sans?" Kirito had a look of disbelief, but then shook his head and told them how to do it.

"You simply swipe your hand downward and your menu will show up."

"Like this… Oh, I see! Okay, then! Guess, I'll see you later. Bye, Kirito! Bye, Sans!"

The two nodded and expected the red haired man to disappear.

…But he never did.

"What's wrong, Klein?" Sans asked.

"Huh? No, it's just… It's not there."

"What's not there?" Kirito asked again.

"The log out button, it's not there."

Sans opened his menu and froze.

"That's not possible, there's no way that—" Kirito checked his menu. "What the hell?"

"Maybe it's like Sans' problem, a bug."

"Now that I think of it that could be it. Despite being beta tested, bugs and errors are bound to occur every time new games are launched."

"I tried calling the GM, but there's no response…"

"Ah, it's already 5:25"

"…M-MY TERIYAKI MAYO PIZZA AND GINGER ALE!"

Sans was still silent.

"I-Is there another way to log out?"

"No, there isn't. The log out button is the only way for the player to log-out."

"N-No way! There must be another way! Return! Escape!" Klein tried different poses as he shouted those last three words, hoping that he'd log out. He even tried moving his hands to mimic the movement of removing the NerveGear from his head.

"I told you, there's no way to log out. Our mind and bodies are separated through the NerveGear so there is no way for us to move our real bodies in anyway."

"F-For real? Then… does that mean we have to wait until the bug is fixed? Or until somebody in the real world log us out?"

"I'm not sure about that last part, but I think so."

"More importantly, why are you so calm San—uh, Sans? Are you okay?"

"What is this…?"

"Sans what's wrong?" Kirito asked in concern.

"What… _**is**_ this?"

"Sans, calm down, what's wrong?"

"… Just… Just look at my menu."

The two swordsman looked over toward his menu and what they found was—

"W-What the hell?" Klein muttered.

His menu was full of gibberish of symbols and unknown characters. They could still read most of them normally like, Inventory, Stats, and etc but what confused them even more was when they saw his Stats menu.

 **[COL: 4590]**

[̜Ě͊ͧͮͨX̵̤̲̯͉̭̣̜͑̆̎̾̽ͯ͒P̖͐̍̄͟:͕̮͖̃̂̈ͥ̀ ̹̜̖̏͐͆ͮ̚?̵̣̬̱̯͔̔̂̽̃?̡̖͔̜̭̭̲̖͊̂ͫͪ?̫̙͔͈͍̏́̈́ͦ͗̌]  
̧̳̪̘̬͔̑̿̌̈́̎̈́̆[̟̟̝̮͍̣͕ͣ͘H̭̗̪̤̺̙͜E̷̞̦͈ͦ́ͧA͍̠̲̯̖̥͖ͯ̄͒L̗̅͂̒̽ͤ̃Ť̷̪̜̃͊͆̄̎H̵̬̬͇̮̬̜͛̑̈͐ͭ ͥͦ̓̋͏̤͕P̵̮̭̳̬̭͙͉ͥ͒̀ͭO̹̜̭̝̻ͦ̂ͣ͑̎́ͅI͎̟̭̠̞̼̱͑ͮ̇͟N̡̰̬̾̈ͅT͇̝̜̰̒ͥͮ̎S͎̤̟̞̿̐ͤ͌ͯ̽ͯͅ:̬̭ͯ͋̽̎́̚ ̠͉̺̣̹͒͐͘ͅ1̨̲͓̤͍̬̓ͣ]̶̘̬̦̯̒  
̺̱̘ͭ̌[̞͖ͥ̒̅̊ͬͣͫD̳̼̗̻̖͇ͪ̒̄ͣͧ̇̕Ē̡̟̮̞F̫͎͇͈̒̋ͯ̂͌ͧͣͅͅE̗̠̰̜ͫͥ̏́N̪̝̙̥̮͋̀̀̊̒ͤSͬ͏̫Ȩ̟̤͙̼̬̲̫̈́̃̽:̺̺͎̩̘̿̕ ̯̣̞̪̺̅ͤ1̖̏ͭ̂̕]ͮ̉̋̑͢ ̗͉̲̰̀ͨ̿͒ͅ  
̝̤͉́[̩̹͎̓͊ͬ̿̾̚̕Ā̤̩̗́ͅG͓̗̙̻̯̭͒͑̎͂̒̈Ĭ̢͚͓̅ͫ͆͑ͩL͙̩̝̬̓̒͋̅ͫͦĮ͈̝͔̞ͦ̀̆̀T͚̯̔ͭͭ͘Y̵̘͈̌̓͊̏̃:̯͂̈̽ ̫̩̊̌?̩͚?̭͖̗̝͓̌̅̿͊͊́̓͞?̽̎̈́ͩ̃̓͆҉]̼̻̻̯͈ͭ  
̖̥̖̘͂͛[͍̜̣͔̺̥̞̕S̤͈̻͕͎͈̱̈͐ͨ̂ͮT̡̳̫͎̪̩̝͗͗͆́̚R͓̂͢ͅE̝̖̤̹̝̗̍̉̌̂ͬ̐ͅN͒͘G̞̼̫̩ͦ̒T̥̟̙͕ͅḨ͈͕̹̳̱̺͍̽͊:̼̗̻̗̭̰̂ͬ̋ͧ̋͂̾ͅ ͦͮ́ͫ̔͐1͓͔̝̔̂̀̾͝]ͣ̍ͧ̈́́͐ͤ́  
̨̰̬̝̈́[̥̪̱̲̓̅S̫͂ͩͤ̿̚͘T̹̰̫͍̆A͓̫̩̚M̶̘̯̖̫̓͑̓̎I̮͈̩̾ͤͪͣ͟N̪̳̜͈̺̘̑͌A̪̤̹͖͙ͣͧ̉̍͑̚:͙̜̫̳ͪͩ͊͊̐ ͜?͈͑͛͜?̴̱̝̮͌ͮͪ͒?̸͈̻̥̤̺̓͒ͅ]̲̙͉̳̟̞͈  
̹̥͈͓

"HP, DEF, STR… Why is your health point, defense, and strength point is only one?" Kirito wondered out loud.

"Maybe it's a bug too?"

"It… could be."

"Either it's a glitch or a bug, one thing for sure is that if they don't fix it soon, this might cause SAO's reputation to drop badly."

"Yeah, that makes sense. They'd have to shut down the server to force-log-out everyone to fix it, but there hasn't been any info—"

Then a loud chiming of a bell was heard.

Before the three players could even register what was happening, the three of them disappeared in a burst of light.

* * *

By the time the three players had reappeared, they were shocked to see that they had returned to the town square of the Beginner Town. They looked around and saw that the town square was packed with lots of other players, if not all of them.

"W-What the fuck?" Sans spoke out loud.

"The hell happened?" Klein reacted in an equally shocked manner.

"A force… teleportation?" Kirito questioned.

"O-Oi, look up there."

A small, red, warning sign was flickering at the center of the town square's sky then suddenly the warning sign multiplied dangerously quick as it trapped the whole town square in a dome in matter of seconds.

Every players eyes were fixed on the sky as they noticed that blood-like substance began to ooze from the warning sign, forming into a shape of a floating gigantic man who was cloaked in a red robe.

"I-Is that the Game Master?"

"Where the heck is his face?"

"What? Is this some kind of event?"

Players began too murmur questions about what was happening, but then the man spoke. **"Attention, players. Today, I welcome you to my world."**

"To... my world?" Sans whispered quizzically.

" **My name is Akihiko Kayaba and as of now, I am the only one who can control this world."**

Sans frowned; he _**really**_ had a bad feeling about this.

" **You all have probably noticed that the log-out option is missing from your menu. I am here to inform you that this is not a bug. I repeat, this is not a bug; this is a feature of Sword Art Online.**

" **You cannot log-out by yourself within the game nor could anyone else in the real world log you out by shutting down or taking off your NerveGear.**

" **If those who are in the real world chose not to abide, a transmitter within your NerveGear would active a strong microwave that would fry your brains, destroying it, thus ending your life."**

Sans widened his eyes in realization as he remembered something that he read in the magazine when Kayaba Akihiko was interviewed about the development of Sword Art Online.

 **[It is a game that is, at the same time, not a game.]**

A sense of dread began to grow at the bottom of his stomach.

The other players including Sans' new friends had a look of shock and disbelief, some even demanded the floating giant known as Kayaba Akihiko to stop this nonsensical joke.

" **However…"** He continued, **"Some of our fellow player's families had choose to ignore this warning and as a result approximately two hundred and thirteen had disappeared forever, both from Aincrad and the real world."**

"No… No… I can't believe this…I can't—" Klein shook his head

" **This is not a lie. As you can see—"** He summoned multiple windows with news playing on it, **"News had spread around the globe of this 'incident', thus those who are responsible had given an order for people not to tamper with the NerveGear in anyway, resulting in the possibility of having the NerveGear removed from your head to decrease dramatically. I hope you enjoy the time you have in clearing the game.**

" **Another important thing that I have to remind you all is that there is no way to revive or resurrect a deceased player within the game. Should your HP drop to 0, your avatar would be lost forever and at the same time… The NerveGear will destroy your brain."**

Sans couldn't believe it. No, he didn't want to believe it, but why… why couldn't he bring himself to refuse in believing every single word that the giant floating man said?

"… **However, there is one way to escape: Clear the Game. Right now, you are at the lowest floor of Aincrad, Floor 1. As you work together in clearing up the floors, you would eventually have to go the dungeon for a boss fight in order to advance towards the last floor in order to beat the game, the 100** **th** **Floor."**

"D-Don't fuck with me! Even the beta testers have never gotten that far in the beta test!" Klein shouted in shock.

" **Lastly, if you check your inventory now, you'll see that I have given a gift for each and every one of you. Please, look at yourselves."**

Every players checked their inventory and found an peculiar item that everyone was sure that they didn't have before; a mirror.

"A-Aaah!" Klein shouted in panic as a burst of white flame engulfed his face.

Kirito and Sans fared no better.

"Kirito! Sans! Are you okay?"

"K-Klein? What… happened." But when Kirito opened his eyes, he was met with an unfamiliar face of a bearded man.

"W-Who are you?"

"E-Eh? Who are you?"

" **As you can see, The Mirror reflects your actual self in real life so it would remind you that** _ **this**_ **world** **is** _**real.**_ **"**

As soon as Sans could see again, he inspected how he looked in the mirror and saw his face. He was shorter than his previous avatar, as well as a tad bit shorter than Kirito and had a brown messy hair. He had a slightly overweight body build, but not fat enough to be called fat; more like chubby. Also, for some odd reason, he was wearing an extremely familiar unzipped blue hoodie, a white t-shirt/sweater, black shorts with white stripes, and a pair of sneakers.

"S-So that means…? You're Kirito/Klein/Sans?" The three of them spoke in unison.

"W-Wait, but, how?"

"I-I think that I have an idea, Klein. Our head is covered by the NerveGear that has an ultra-strong sensors and signals so reflecting our actual face is certainly possible… but for it to reflect our height and body…?"

"Didn't we have to recalibrate our body first before we login? We had to touch every part of our bodies before we start to play, right?"

"That… actually makes perfect sense."

"Yeah, but… why? Why is all _**this**_ is happening?! And why are you so calm, San—?"

Before he could even finish, as if reading his mind, Kayaba Akihiko began to spoke again.

" **You must be wondering… why? Why would the genius, Kayaba Akihiko, do all of this? I'm here to tell you why.**

" **I have reached my purpose. I created this world solely for one purpose: To create this world and intervene in it. Now, my purpose is complete, therefore, this ends our Official Tutorial of the Sword Art Online.**

" **I wish you all the best of luck."**

As soon as he said that, the giant floating man began to dissolve into gas and retracted back into the warning signs in the form of the same blood-like substance like how he appeared.

Then the dome made out of warning signs disappeared in a blink of an eye, leaving the players staring up at the clear sky in silence. Soon the silence was broken as a player screamed. A chain of events caused every other player to shout in fits of rage, demanding Kayaba Akihiko to log them all out immediately.

However, unlike the others, Kirito kept himself calm and pulled Klein and Sans with him toward an alleyway.

"O-Oi, Kirito, what's wrong with y—?"

"Listen to me, Klein, and you too, Sans. This game has just turned into a _**death**_ _**game**_. Don't you get it? If you die here, you die in the real world too."

"Y-Yeah, but—"

"Look, the only way for us to survive is to get to the next town as soon as possible and level up as quickly as possible while taking quests that would benefit us before the other players began to do the same.

"I was one of the top players in the beta test so I know a lot of safe paths that we could use to get to the next town and—"

However, Sans suddenly laughed.

"W-Why are you laughing, Sans? This is serious!"

"Kirito… You're really a nice person, aren't you?" he smiled sadly.

"W-What are you…?"

"I got to agree with Sans here. I mean, the reason I play SAO was to play together with my real life friends. I'm pretty sure they're here somewhere so I gotta look for them."

"B-But—!"

Klein cut him off before he could continue to argue, "Don't worry about us! I have a lot of experience as a guild leader, so you can rest assured that we'll be just fine!

"…Besides, you've already taught and do so much for us. We can't possibly ask more from you."

"Guys…"

Sans put a hand on his shoulder and smiled, "Just go, Kirito. I'm rooting for you."

"If that's what you guys want… then I guess, it was nice to meet you both."

Sans nodded as a reply and Kirito began to reluctantly retreat deeper into the alleyway, but then before he was out of sight, Klein called out his name.

"Kirito!"

"Y-yeah?"

"Umm… how should I put this… It's just that, you know, now that I think about it, you look pretty cute. So get rid of that sadness in your face! Your happy face suits you better!"

Both Kirito and Sans were silent, but then laughed really hard.

"D-Dude, I didn't know you swing that way, hahaha!"

"W-What—?!"

"Hahaha! Well your face suits you ten times better than mine does!"

"Oh, c'mon, really?"

Kirito stopped laughing and smiled as he waved a goodbye, "If this is goodbye… then see you later, Klein! Sans!"

"See ya, bro! Thanks for everything!"

"See you soon."

As soon as Kirito disappeared, the two remaining player were left in silence as the world behind them turned to chaos.

Klein was the first to break the silence.

"You can cry now, Sans... I noticed that you were holding it back too."

"Heh, heh, heh… heh… I-I thought I hid it so well…" Sans chuckled in sadness as did everything he could muster just to force himself not to cry.

His voice was shaky when he spoke and his foot collapsed, causing him to sit down in this cold and dark alleyway.

"Sans—"

"Don't you have to find your friends soon?"

For a moment Klein didn't say anything then he sighed and turned around as he let out his own tears.

"I-I understand… I'm sorry to leave you alone like this, Sans. Goodbye."

Klein walked out of the alleyway and disappeared amongst the panicking players in the town square, leaving Sans sitting alone in the alleyway.

"Stuck in a death game with 1 Health Point, 1 Defense Point, and 1 Attack Point…" he began to chuckle then he began to laugh. His laugh got louder and louder, but before he realized it, he was already screaming and crying in pure despair.

"What kind of a _**sick**_ joke is this…?! _**Just WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!**_ I didn't ask for this! I didn't ask for _**any**_ of this!"

He gripped his face in sheer hopelessness so hard and so painful that it might as well bleed if he was in the real world.

As tears were overflowing from the corner of his eyes, he cried alone in the dark and cold alleyway as he yelled out,

" _ **SOMEBODY HELP ME!"**_

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Hey! So, uh, I know that this counts as a crossover but I have no intention in adding in any other characters or storyline from Undertale to the SAO Universe.

All my OC is in this story is that he is a player that gained the power of Sans the Skeleton from Undertale, however there will be a few changes to the game mechanics to explain/suit how Sans' power work in SAO.

This is a prologue, but I'm not sure really; might be nothing more but a simple one-shot. I don't wanna make promises that I'll update regularly, **IF** I decide to continue, but if someone could motivate me then I'd continue the story. So yeah, your review is essential to me.

After all, who wants to write something that no one would read? I certainly don't wanna waste time doing that…

Well, what do you think? Should I change the tag of this story as a crossover, or should I just continue the way it is for now?

Any thoughts on the chapter? Well, send it as a PM or Review to let me know!

Well then, without further ado,

See ya next chapt, Capt!

:v /


	2. Resolve

On the day everyone realized that they truly had no way to escape this death game, other than by clearing it, most fell into despair. So deep and suffocating that they began to lose all hope. They stopped believing that they could escape, or get themselves out of this death game altogether. They even stopped believing that they could clear the game so much that the idea to end their very lives seemed appealing in their current state of mind. They were truly lost.

Sans fared no better, if not worse.

It had been a week now and he hadn't seen nor set out to search for Klein. The last time he saw him, he was left alone to cry so hard that he collapsed within that cold, dark alleyway.

He understood now. His vision was clearer; his hearing was sharper; and his senses were so sensitive that he could see, hear, and feel every single detail of the world around him. In fact, they were so sensitive that it started to hurt.

However, that was the least of his worries. Physical pain was something he could endure, for now. It was his mind that was hurting more than both his real and new body could ever feel.

Everybody was scared, lost, and confused. He could see the despair, sadness, longing, anxiety, and regret on every creases, every single _**detail**_ , they had on the expressions of their faces. They gave up and Sans did too.

He headed toward a clearing a bit far outside of the Beginner Town, just a little near to the area where monsters spawns. He sat under a shady tree and looked up toward the clear blue sky then began to question his existence. Why didn't he do anything? Why was he still alive? If he truly had given up…

… **Why shouldn't he just end it right there, right now?**

He clenched his fist and bit his lips as he fought back the urge to breakdown… or he would have if not for the fact that he was already out of tears after crying himself to sleep on every single night since this death game began.

Besides, he knew why. He was afraid of death. He didn't want to find out what would happen should he die. _**He**_ **was a** _ **coward**_ **.**

…A coward that was stuck with _**a single health point**_ ; a coward that was stuck with _**a single defense point**_ ; a coward that was stuck with _**a single attack point**_ ; a coward could _**die**_ from _**a single poke**_ from an enemy; a coward... that could _**die at any given moment**_ ; _**at any given time**_.

He couldn't farm and level up the way he was; he'd be dead before he could touch his first enemy; and even if he did, his glitch caused every weapon he held to only deal one point of damage. He was nothing but a burden to everyone and himself.

… **Maybe ending his life right there, right now, was a great idea after all.**

All he had to do was force himself to be brave for _**one**_ _**second**_ and let the blade of his sword sink into the flesh where his heart would be and everything, every pain, anxiety, and suffering, would disappear. _**He**_ would _**disappear.**_

 **It seemed like a great idea or should he say…**

He read the name of his username on the top of his HP bar and laughed in sheer hopelessness, "A _**punny**_ idea, heh, heh, heh… heh… heh… punny _ **…**_ p-punny?"

Then he widened his eyes in realization.

How dare he… How _**dare**_ he forget. How _**dare**_ he sit idle by doing nothing but wallow in misery and despair when he was using the name of someone that knew exactly how he was feeling since the past week! How dare he forget what and who _**Sans**_ really was.

Was this how _**Sans**_ lived every single moment of his life? Being constantly reminded that he could die at any given moment should he not take enough care of himself? Being constantly reminded that he couldn't save anyone or anything he loved no matter how much he tried?

…Yet he smiled. _**Sans**_ smiled. Despite knowing the cruel truth of the reality of their world, that it was nothing more than a simple _**game**_ and he couldn't do anything about it since he was a part of it, he still _**smiled**_.

He trusted everyone, he trusted the protagonist of _**Undertale.**_ Even after he chose to kill _**every living thing**_ within the Underworld for his own sick amusement, _**Sans**_ still trusted him. Hell, even until the very end he fought for the game's protagonist's sake even though he killed his brother, friends, and everything he ever knew and loved to protect him from the inevitable danger that was waiting for him at the end of his journey.

Sans felt sick, guilty and ashamed. How dare could he merely use _**his**_ name like that? How dare he lived using _**Sans'**_ name, a name of someonethat he admired so much, when he didn't even try to act or live like he did?

He felt a tear rolling down his cheek and he tried to smile. He tried to force himself to smile bigger, wider, _**happier**_ , as more tears rolled down his cheeks. He realized that he had been thinking for so long that the sun had begun to set over the horizon.

He made his mind. It took him this long, but he made his mind. He stood up and put his hands in the pockets of his hoodie as he forced a smile on his face as tears overflowing from the corner of his eyes.

Wiping his tears away, he ran back toward the Town, heading for the edge of the Town that was right beside the edge of Aincrad's first floor; a place where most players decided to end their lives.

He might have given up. He might have thought that he would die sooner before everyone could advance to the next floor. However, that didn't mean he wouldn't try.

He might have given up, but if he could help it, he won't let anyone suffer despair anymore. He must be their guiding light within the darkness; he must be there to make them laugh when they thought that all hope was lost; he must be there to help them get back on the right tracks; he must be there as their conscience.

'Sans' was the only one that should suffer alone in the eternal prison of hopelessness as he put on a façade that would return happy smiles onto the faces everyone as he kept them determined to enjoy every single moments of their lives. After all, it was the greatest gift he had; to bear the pain of this cruel reality without breaking.

Akiyoshi Mizuki, now 'sans_the_skeleton', had truly made up his mind.

* * *

On the edge of this world, on the edge of Aincrad's Town of Beginners, stood a man and a girl. The man stood on the edge of the world's ledge as she merely looked down in silence, knowing full well what the man was going to do.

"It's nice to meet you… but I'll be going home first." He looked back and smiled.

The girl noticed it, his smile. It wasn't a smile of happiness nor was it a smile of malicious intent. No… it was the smile of someone that truly had given up; the smile… of _**pure**_ despair and desperation.

She smiled back in the same manner as the man jumped and exploded into pixels that soon vanish into nothingness. Her legs were trembling, fear gripped at her heart as she was on the verge of collapsing from the mere thought of what she was going to do.

However, a flash of memory of her real life family made her gulp down her fear as she took her steps forward. She stood at the edge of the ledge and could see how beautiful the sunset was.

The wind was blowing ever so gently as she simply stared at what she thought was going to be her last view of sunset in this world.

That's right. _**This was just a game**_. There's no way that she'd actually die, right? _**Right?**_ She'd jump and end everything right there then she'd wake up back on her bed, surrounded by the worried faces of her family where she would tell them not to worry because she was back, before she know it!

As her life flashed before her eyes, she closed her eyes as she was about to let herself fall and—

"huff... puff... **Hey, girl.** huff... puff... **Don't you know how to greet a new pal?** **"** Panted a voice creepily from behind her.

She froze in silence as the person continued.

" **Turn…** huff… puff… **Turn** **around and shake my hand."**

She turned around slowly and was met with a chubby, blue-hoodie wearing, boy who was offering her a hand. She didn't know how to react. After all, it's not everyday someone came and told you to shake their hand when you were about to commit suicide.

Nevertheless, she obeyed with a confused look and shook his hand—then a loud farting noise was heard.

"Pfft! The old whoopee-cushion on the hand trick! It's _**ALWAYS**_ funny!"

She merely stood there dumbfounded at the absurdity of the situation. How could this boy joke around someone that was clearly about to end their life? No, better question, how _**did**_ he get his hands on a whoopee-cushion?

"Heh, heh… heh… That's, uh, your cue to laugh… or emote at all? Welp, guess everybody has their own sense of humor… Anyway. I'm Sans. Sans the Skeleton. And you are?"

"L-Li…" She murmured inaudibly.

"Li?"

"Li… Lis… beth." She reluctantly replied.

"Lisbeth, huh? Cool name. So…" He closed his eyes and suddenly pulled her over the ledge to safety.

"W-What do you think you're doing?"

"…Oh? Am I wrong? Figured you're not the type to do a… _**jump**_ start." He winked at her, his seemingly happy smile never leaving his face.

She wanted to protest about the fact that his joke wasn't in anyway funny, but stopped herself when he cut her off with eyes that seemed to see right through her.

"Besides… if you truly wanted to jump, **you wouldn't tremble as you did.** "

She widened her eyes in realization; the realization of how naïve she was when she was about to jump to end her very life in hope that she could escape this death game that caged her.

Tears began to fall, sobs began to echo, the girl known as Lisbeth put her hands to her face as she began to cry and scream in mixed feelings between, fear, anxiety, sadness, and, most of all, _**regret**_ **.**

Sans stayed there and hugged the crying girl, his dimple smile never leaving his face. He was angry at himself. He was too late. If only he made up his mind earlier, none of this would've happened; he would've been able to save that man.

Alas, reality disagreed.

Sans shook the guilt off of his conscience for he must save the person in front of him first before he could blame himself for being too late in saving that man. He realized that the girl had cried herself to sleep.

Sans could see the worry etched on her sleeping face and smiled in sadness as he picked her up on his back and gave her a piggy back ride toward the Town's inn. He bought a room for the night for 100 Cor and dropped her off in the room before leaving.

However, before he left her, he wrote a note for Lisbeth. With that, he left the inn to go back and watch over the places where most players committed suicides to prevent them from doing so.

He saved a person today and he'd do it again for he had already made up his mind, he would start saving much more people. With a clear purpose on his mind, he left the inn in search for those in need.

As he did, he was filled with…

 **DETERMINATION** _ **.**_

* * *

Somewhere, deep within the Cardinal System, within the matrix which controlled and maintained this virtual reality, _**someone smiled**_.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_

Eh, just wanna add this one up too. Too short by my standard, but… eh. Oh well, thanx for the review! Really motivated me to continue :)

By the way, no, he won't be paired with Lisbeth... yet(?) meh, not sure about pairings yet. Oh, and please do excuse the grammar errors or typos if you see 'em. :')

Welp, don't know what else to say sooo…

 _ **See ya next chapt, Capt!**_

 _ **:v /**_


	3. One Month Later: The Day The Past Haunts

Sans was standing on the edge of Aincrad again. This time, he caught a boy who was about to do something really, _**really**_ stupid...

…Or was it logical? He couldn't tell.

"anyway, as i was saying... it's a nice day out. why not relax and take a load off—?"

"This is just a game, right? _**Right**_?! The Game Master only said all of those things to scare us so we would actually play as if everything is real! Yeah, that's all this world is!"

"look, buddy. pal. i don't know who told you that, but that's not true—"

"SHUT UP! You can't fool me! I'm going home right here, right now, and you can't stop me! HAHAHA!"

The boy laughed and jumped to his inevitable end with a pitiful look etched on his face; fueled by the despair and desperation that clouded his judgment. Sans just stood there as his dimple smile never left his face.

He failed again.

A month had passed since the beginning of this death game and approximately 1,303 players had died. During the first two and three weeks, Sans stuck around the edge of Aincrad, and other areas that were considered well-known spots to end one's life, to persuade those who were on the verge of giving up with words of determination.

He began to get used to this mask that the _**Real**_ _**Sans**_ always put on his face; his smile. Through every encounter, every conversations, advices and jokes, he perfected this façade; this new personality; he truly hoped that he could save every players from despair and anxiety.

However, as he had just witnessed, not everyone would listen and calm down as he hoped for. As much as he wanted to blame himself for not being able to prevent the deaths of those he failed to convince, he knew that it wasn't his fault... But that didn't mean he felt any less guilty about it.

Perhaps what he did was pointless. Perhaps what he did was a futile attempt to justify the fact that he was a coward that didn't want to fight on the front lines, nor sit idle by doing nothing... But wasn't that it? Wasn't the reason the _**Real**_ _**Sans**_ was lazy was because he knew that every moment in his life could be the last so he tried to make the most of it doing things that he wanted to do and cheering people up so they'd never know the true pain of living a life such as his?

He could never know the answer, but he did know one thing: convincing people to live in a world where they were forced to live in was absolutely _**bone**_ tiring.

He shook his head, reminding himself that he shouldn't make jokes when thinking about/going through something so morbid… but then again, that _**was**_ the job he chose to take. Though, in all honesty, he didn't know whether he should be scared of the fact that he was getting used to it or not; a part of him told him that he should, while the other… disagreed _**bone-**_ headedly.

Crap, he did it again. Maybe thinking about something that was not negative could help.

Let's see... On the bright side, most of the other players had accepted the truth of their current predicament so they were all determined to clear the death game to escape it. Those who were too scared to fight decided that they would support the Clearers, a term used for players who fights on the front lines and focuses on clearing the game, in terms of preparing equipments, items, etc. The rest, however... well, too scared to fight orto end their own lives, the rest decided that they would just hang around the Town of Beginnings, doing nothing but wallow in misery and despair.

Sans had met all three types of people and if he hadn't made up his mind, he might have joined the "rest," or worse, the fourth type of people; those who ended their own lives.

He sighed, thinking that it was enough morbid thinking for today. He needed a break anyway, so he headed back toward the Town of Beginnings.

He walked around the town and could see players sat around with grim expressions. He chuckled and smiled sadly; he understood how hopeless they felt. He even saw a few players that he talked to recently just simply sitting down with lifeless looks; they didn't even greet him back.

He had been thinking about it. He thought that maybe it was time for him to leave the Town of Beginnings and move on to the next town to keep an eye out for other suicidal players. Besides… he had something to experiment with.

He was about to grab a lunch before a familiar voice called out from behind him.

"S-Sans?"

"hm? can i help—"

Before he could finish he saw a face that he thought he'd never see again; Klein. He saw that on the top of Klein's head there was a number that reads 17. He smiled as he always did and greeted him.

"yo… been a while, huh?"

"Y-Yeah."

An awkward silence fell between the two of them.

"U-Uh, Sans, listen. I'm sorry that I left you that day and never came back. I-I'm really sorry—"

Sans looked at him seriously without changing his expressions.

" _ **You bet you are.**_ "

Sans approached Klein and raised a hand. Klein flinched and closed his eyes as he waited for Sans to hit him.

However, instead of feeling (non-existent) pain, he was met with a hand to his shoulder. He opened his eyes slowly to see Sans smiled and winked at him.

"…cuz', boy, do i have a _**bone**_ to pick with you!"

At first Klein didn't know how to react, but then he snickered a little, then louder, louder and before he realized it, he was already laughing out loud as he let out a single tear. He wiped the tear away as Sans continued.

"anyway, wat'cha doin' here? have y'met any of ur friends yet?"

"I'm here to… well, look around. I mean, this place is where everything started, might as well say a last goodbye before moving on. And yeah, I've met them. We are all together now and guess what? I am now officially the leader of our guild, the _**Fuurinkazan**_!" Klein bragged as he held a heroic pose, "…though we still can't make a guild yet since there some requirements to be met, so I guess I'm not _**really**_ a guild leader yet." He muttered.

Sans stayed silent for a few moment, then nonchalantly said,

"k"

"Eh...? _**Eh**_?! Oh, come. _ **On**_! That's all the reaction I got? You could be more like, ' _ **Wow, really?'**_ or _**'So awesome!'**_ you know!"

Sans laughed.

"lol, no."

"URK!" As if a giant arrow stabbed through Klein's chest, he knelt on the ground as he cried comically. Klein recovered from such critical attack and sighed, "Why does someone as cool as me have to do so much just to get some recognition?"

"wow, sounds like you're really working yourself… down to the _**bone.**_ "

"Haha, okay, that's enough puns for today."

"why? _**bone-**_ tired of hearing my _**punny**_ puns?"

"Sans, please stop."

"well… _**tibia**_ honest, i think i understand why you want me to stop…" Sans continued.

" _ **Stop.**_ "

"after all, these _**punny**_ puns aren't very _**humerus**_!"

"God, make it _**STAAAPH**_! Why are you making skeleton puns just because your username is _sans_the_skeleton_ anyway? You don't even look like a skeleton! Not even close!"

Sans stayed silent for a moment then touched Klein's iron armor. " _ **Iron**_ ic, isn't it?"

Klein was about to flip out, but sudden pinging noise came from Klein's menu; it was a message. He read the message he received and his face slowly contorted into a look of seriousness and surprise; Sans noticed this.

"so…wazzup?"

"H-Huh? Oh nothing, it's just… I've got a message."

"what about?"

"…They said that the Clearers have found the 1st Floor's Boss."

Sans was silent; he was truly surprised. Heh, what do you know? Seemed like he would be able to live long enough to advance to the next floor after all.

"that's a surprise. what're you gonna do now, klein?"

"Well, the message my friends told me said that there would be a meeting for Clearers that is going to be held in a town near the tower dungeon called Torbana tomorrow."

"i see."

"Yeah, but that's just me. The question is, what are _**you**_ going to do? It's been a month and I've been looking for you… I didn't even know that you were still here the whole time!"

 _ **[it's not like i can get far away out of town without the fear that i might die from simply being poked by monsters]**_ he thought to himself dryly.

Nonetheless, Sans didn't let the smile on his face disappear.

"well… i had things to do. but forget about that, where're your friends now?"

"My friends? Oh, they're already at Torbana. After all, they were the ones who sent me this message."

"k. gotcha."

"Well, you haven't answered my question, Sans. What are you going to do now? If you still want to stay here, I under—"

Sans thought to himself for a moment then cut Klein off and gave his answer.

"i've been thinking of leaving the town so i guess i'll go with you to torbana."

"Wait. Really?"

"of course. besides, i got something that i wanted to try. mind helping me as we travel?"

Klein nodded and gave him a thumb up as he smiled, "Anything for a friend!"

Sans had been smiling ever since the day he decided to be the person he was now. In fact he had been smiling so much that even he couldn't tell which smile of his was the real thing anymore.

However, moments like these, seeing the smile of his friend, someone he trusted, who was willing to help him… it reminded him of how it feels to truly smile again. If seeing Klein again could make him this happy, perhaps it'd do well for him to see Kirito soon too.

"So! What are we waiting for? Let's go, Sans!"

Sans closed his eyes and took a deep breath then when he opened them, he was smiling a bit wider than he always did.

"k"

* * *

 _ **The Next Day, First Floor: Torbana, 2**_ _ **nd**_ _ **of December, 2022**_

* * *

It's been a month since Kirito travelled alone. As a beta-tester he had leveled up much, much quicker than any other players did so perhaps it was safe to assume that he was currently the player who had the highest level within the game; 26.

But that's not what was important. What was important was the fact that he had been living as a loner for days that he... _**changed.**_

He walked towards the meeting point where players had gathered for the briefing of the plan to attack Aincrad's first floor boss.

A man with a blue hair and blue armor stood on the stage and clapped his hands to get the attention of players.

"May I have you attention, please? Well, it's time for the meeting to begin. Today, I'd like to thank you all for coming after you all have received my call. My name is Diavel and you could say that it's my job to be a knight!"

 _ **[There isn't any job system in SAO. What? Is he trying to be funny? What a waste of my ti—]**_

Before Kirito could even finish his thought, the man known as Diavel suddenly turned serious.

"Anyway… two days ago, our party has found the boss room on the top of the tower dungeon. In order to advance to the second floor, we must defeat the boss within said room and show players that are waiting in the Town of Beginnings that this game is _**beatable.**_

With that being said, this is why everybody here must participate in this attack! Isn't that right, everyone?!"

At first the players hesitated, but then swallowing their fears, with looks of determination on their faces, they all clapped their hands at Diavel's speech.

"Okay, then, now we'll discuss about a strategy to defeat the boss. First off, we'll split everyone into parties of six players. Bosses in every floor can't be defeated with a normal party. So—"

Kirito tuned out the rest of Diavel's explanation. He could see that the other players were already inviting or joining other players to form their parties. Most would think that he would panic and start to look for available players, but he didn't. In fact he didn't care about it.

He could find other players later, for now, he must recall the attack patterns of the first floor boss that he knew. He defeated it once in beta-test with the other beta-testers; he could defeat it again; alone if he must.

He sighed, seeing that there wasn't any point in staying any longer. However, before he could even stand up, a player shouted as he walked onto the stage.

"HOLD ON A SECOND! I'm Kibaou and before we talk about the strategy to defeat the boss, I'd like to say a few words.

"Some of you here owed the rest an apology for the death of more than a thousand players since the beginning of the month!"

"Excuse me, Kibaou, by 'you', are you referring to the beta testers?"

"Of course, I am! Ever since the beginning of this shitty game, beta testers had disappeared and left the rest of us newbies for dead! They took all good hunting spots, easy quests, and thought about nothing but getting power for themselves. Not only that, but they also ignored the rest of us!"

Kibaou had a look of rage on his face.

"I'm pretty sure one of you was in the beta! I demand that all of you get over here to kneel and apologize to the rest of us! Then you should give all of the money and items that you have gathered! If you refuse, then we can't trust them to protect us as a party member!"

Silence befell the players. Kirito was thinking about how utterly ridiculous and dumb this Kibaou person was. He was about to give him a piece of his mind before another player stood up.

"Wait a second. I am Agil. Kibaou, I think that what you were trying to say is that a lot of newbies had died because the beta testers didn't teach them how to play and for that reason, they must take responsibility, apologize and give compensations? Is that correct?"

"Y-Yeah."

The tall, dark-skinned, man took out a small book from his pocket.

"You've one of this guide books, don't you? After all, you can get one for free almost anywhere in the town."

"I do… but so what?!"

"For your information, the ones who made this book are _**beta testers**_."

Kibaou was silent as players had looks of surprise as Agil continued.

"Everyone, listen. Every and any information about the basics and tricks of the game that you needed are in this book, however, even after having this knowledge, there are still a lot of players that have died. That is why we should think of this as a lesson so that we can focus on how to help those who can't fight by defeating the boss as well as so that we don't get ourselves killed."

"Tch."

With that Kibaou went back to sit among the crowds as Agil followed. Kirito didn't feel like leaving anymore as Diavel began to continue his explanation so he began to doze off.

* * *

"—Well, if that's all, then that concludes our meeting for today. Please rest well and prepare yourselves for tomorrow!"

The loud cheers of players woke Kirito up. He realized that the other players were leaving so he decided to leave too, however—

"Eh, Kirito?"

He heard a familiar voice and turned around with a look of disbelief.

"K-Klein?"

He looked at the chubby boy beside him.

"S-Sans?"

"'sup?"

"W-What are you doing here?"

"What are you talking about? We came here for the meeting of course! Isn't that right, Sans?"

"yup."

"I-I see…"

Sans could see the sadness Kirito was trying to hide and when he saw the blue clothes that Kirito was wearing under his armor, he decided to cheer him up.

"so… feeling a lil' _**blue**_?"

He snickered a bit at the pun; he didn't realize that Sans knew how he felt; he thought Sans meant that he was going to cry after not meeting them for so long.

"Kind of."

"Uuugh, Sans, can you just—?! You know what, I give up…"

"What's wrong, Klein?"

"What's wrong? I'll tell you what's _**WRONG!**_ I've been stuck with this guy and his puns since yesterday and trust me, it. Was. _**HELL.**_ "

"didja mean, it was _**hell**_ uva _**pun**_ times?"

Klein groaned in exasperation, " _ **SEE**_?!"

Kirito laughed nervously as he didn't know how to react after not meeting the very first friends he made since the beginning of the game.

He felt a little sad again when thinking about the days he spent being alone. While the Klein and Kirito was talking, Sans suddenly spoke, "guys, sorry but I gtg."

"What? Gotta go? So soon?" Klein frowned in confusion.

"yup. don't worry though, i'll see you two again tomorrow before you enter the tower dungeon. 'sides, you two need to catch up with each other."

"Wait! Do you have any money or—"

"don't worry about me, klein. i have everything that i needed. thanks for helping me."

"O-Of course… well, then. See you tomorrow, Sans."

"see you, klein. kirito."

With that, Sans left the two friends to catch up.

* * *

Sans was walking alone in the town square. He was thinking about the discoveries he had made until today. While he was on his way to Torbana, he asked Klein for help in fighting monsters and he compared the damage he could deal when fighting monsters with different levels.

Apparently, Sans actually did have the _**Real**_ _**Sans**_ power called Karmic Retribution; an effect that gave his attack a damage-overtime effect proportional to his enemies' level; specifically exp. An attack to a _**level 1**_ boar dealt 1 instant damage and 1 damage-overtime resulting in 2 points of damage, while an attack to a _**level 2**_ boar dealt 1 instant damage and 3 damage-overtime resulting in 4 points of damage, while an attack to a _**level 3**_ boar dealt 1 instant damage and 7 damage-overtime resulting in 8 points of damage. The damage overtime effect increased exponentially according to his enemy's level and lasted proportional to the amount of time his attack made contact with his enemy. Not only that but they also seemed to ignore armor or other type of defenses too.

Through this experiment, he discovered that in order to use this power effectively, he must fight against high-level enemies rather than lower-level enemies. However, 8 damages per hit, assuming it lasted 1 full second, on a _**level 3**_ monster weren't a lot seeing that _**level 3**_ monsters had an average health of around 500-700; the average health of _**level 1**_ players.

In an attempt to cover this weakness, he figured that he needed to make sure that his attacks made a very long contact with the enemy, thus he tried his second experiment; summoning bones. He carried out this experiment when Klein was fast asleep. Although it wasn't the first time he tried to summon it, he had been trying ever since the day he made his resolve, but last night was the first time he could actually summon one. It required him great focus on visualizing the bones for them to be summoned, but so far, he could only summon at the maximum of five bones around the size of his thigh's bone as far as five meters away from him and even then he still needed more focus to maintain their forms lest they simply glitch out of existence. Summoning even a single bone also drained a lot of his stamina.

He didn't get the chance to try summoning Gaster Blasters or practicing his teleportation though; he either was too exhausted or didn't have the time. After all, if simply summoning bones required him so much focus and stamina, then it seemed like it'll take some time for him to be able to actually summon a gaster blaster, much less teleport.

These experiments that he conducted showed that he indeed had the powers of the _ **Real Sans**_. He would need a lot of time to train his focus and stamina in order for him to effectively use these powers, nevertheless it was a start.

As he kept on walking around the town square he saw someone that he had wanted to meet.

Klein and Sans arrived late for the meeting, but while Klein couldn't find Kirito among the other players, Sans' enhanced vision allowed him to find Kirito with little to no efforts.

However, he didn't tell Klein about it since something, or rather someone piqued his interest; it was a cloaked girl right next to Kirito ( _ **it took him a few moments, but he figured the person was a she from her feminine body build**_ ). He had been watching the cloaked girl ever since he arrive at the meeting point and although he couldn't see her face clearly, there was something that felt... familiar.

It was as if there was a voice from somewhere deep in his mind that was telling him to simply rush there and to see just what was it that caused this familiar sense of feeling.

Figuring that it might raise unwanted suspicions from Kirito and Klein, he immediately set out to look for her the moment the meeting ended.

And thus, there he was, standing right in front of the cloaked girl who was sitting alone in the corner of the town square… well not exactly 'in front of her' per se, more like _**behind**_ her.

Her cloak was brown, making her seem like she merged into the shadows due to her dimly lit surroundings. Sans looked above her head and saw a number that read 19. He took a deep breath and put on his signature smile then he stepped forward to greet the girl.

" **Hey girl. Don't you know how to greet a—"**

Sans widened his eyes as he felt a sudden rapid change in the air pressure around him and before he could realize what was happening, a blade sliced through his head.

…Or it would have if not for his enhanced senses and reflexes saving him at the last second by pulling his head backward it, dodging the attack by mere centimeters. The blade, as he noticed, was from the rapier that the cloaked girl held in her hand and it was pointed right between his eyes.

For a moment, nobody made a move.

Sans was afraid. Were he not fast enough to dodge such an attack outside of a safe zone that could only mean one thing; his inevitable and utter demise.

However, he remembered that he wasn't in an 'unsafe zone' so he regained his composure and smiled in awe.

"wow. cool reflexes."

The girl held the rapier tighter when he was about to move, causing him to flinch.

" _ **What do you want?"**_ she spoke

The game system made it possible that the hood of cloak didn't show her face, but standing right in front of her in person and listening to her voice, this unknown familiar feeling came back again, filling him with a sense of frustration due to the fact that he just couldn't put his finger on what did she remind him of.

"…"

"I said, _**what**_ do you _**want**_?" she told him again in a tone full of suspicion, snapping Sans out of his daze.

"h-huh? oh, well, i'd like to tell you… but if you can get this blade out of my face then that would make me much, much…" He paused and smiled, "… _ **rapier."**_

"…Huh?" She tilted her head in confusion as her grip on her sword lessened.

"heh, geddit? rapier, happier?"

She began to shake as she spoke slowly, "Stop wasting my time and just TELL ME WHAT DO YOU—"

A suddenly loud grumble interrupted her.

Silence fell between the two players, suddenly Sans began, "…was that a—?"

"S-Shut u—!" Another loud grumble and she knelt down holding his stomach in pain(?).

With a face as red as tomato and eyes that were about to release tears of embarrassment, the girl looked away as Sans sighed and snickered.

Well, he could probably forget about this familiar feeling at the moment. After all, this was certainly an interesting way to meet someone.

* * *

Unlike the _**Real**_ _**Sans,**_ Sans wasn't that lazy. He took the initiative to get some food and came back with a few breads in hand.

"thanks for waiting. here u go" he handed her a bread.

"T-Thanks…"

At first she was skeptical, but soon she began to take a bite from the raw bread; she didn't seem like she liked it that much.

"like it?"

"E-Eh? Y-Yeah…"

Sans opened up his menu and then took out something; a jar. The girl watched him in curiosity and saw how he tapped at the jar then began to spread something white and creamy all over his bread.

"W-What is that?" She

"hm? this? it comes from a quest when i was traveling here with a friend. well, he did all of the work, but despite that, he was kind enough to give me this item. it tastes just like custard, y'know."

He took an intentional slow bite and hummed loudly in delight. The girl realized that she was gaping as her mouth watered.

She looked at the bread on her hand then back at Sans', then back at hers and then back at Sans' again. Sans, of course, noticed this and smirked.

"y'know, i was wondering how could anyone enjoy eating something as raw and tasteless as these breads, but hey, you said you like it so i guess everybody has their own taste in culinary."

Her face reddened under her hood as Sans pretended to act innocent and continued, "…or is that wrong?"

"Mou! Whatever!"

She threw the bread toward the ground and it exploded into pixels as she pouted and faced the other way.

However, her stomach betrayed her and Sans laughed even harder. He handed her another bread; this time with the sweet-tasting cream all over it.

She took it begrudgingly as she muttered an inaudible grumble. She stared at the food on her hand and took a bite.

Widening her eyes, she paused momentarily to savor the sweet taste of the cream and before she realized it, she already wolfed down the whole thing. Sans chose to stay quiet as he merely stared at her; impressed.

"delicious?"

She was silent for a moment, then she spoke, "I didn't came to this town to simply eat delicious foods…" she paused, "I came here so that I can be myself."

Sans realized that the sudden gloomy change in the atmosphere, so he remained quiet with his everlasting smile and listened.

"I'd rather be myself than sit idly at the inn at the Town of Beginnings. So, I kept telling myself… ' _Even if I might die and get killed by monsters…I'll never lose to this world and this game. No matter what.'_ "

For a moment silence fell between the two. Then Sans extended his hand toward her face, "that was actually pretty…" He used his finger to clean a bit of cream that was stuck on the side of her mouth and licked it as he smiled. " _ **sweet.**_ "

The girl blushed again and stammered badly, clearly caught off guard seeing that she didn't expect him to do such a thing. Sans laughed at her cute reaction, but then looked away.

"heh heh heh… if only they were more like you then they wouldn't have to waste their lives so pointlessly…"

She tilted her head in confusion, "What do you me—?"

Before she could finish, Sans cut her off with a snicker and winked.

"nah, don't worry about it. just kidding."

He paused then asked a question.

"anyway… i've got a question for ya. why didn'tcha form a party at the meeting?"

"Oh, that... Well, it seemed like everyone else knew each other already. I didn't want to intrude or anything."

Sans closed his eyes and nodded. "i see…"

Silence befell the two players, but then the girl spoke again, "Why are you here?"

"hm?"

"Why are you here talking to me?"

"well…" Sans paused, trying to come up with an excuse, "…meh, just trying to nice as i walk around town. noticed u were from the meeting, so figured i should say hi."

"Is that… so…?"

"why?"

"I thought you were about to ask me to join your party?"

"oooh, no, no, i'm not fighting."

"What? Why?"

Sans stayed silent for a moment, but then did a stupid pose ( _ **like Papyrus**_ ) "i'm too fabulous to fight, you know!"

"…"

He looked away as his face reddened in embarrassment as the girl simply stared at him I silence, but then she laughed.

"P-pfft! Ha ha ha! What was that pose? I-Is that supposed to make you look cool? Ha ha ha!"

He scratched the side of his face and sighed,

"well, at least someone's happy…"

The girl's laughter died down and Sans asked,

"anyway, we haven't properly been introduced yet." He extended his hand, "i'm sans. sans the skeleton."

She gladly took his hand and opened the hood of her cloak. It was at this moment Sans could clearly see what she looked like; a beautiful face of girl with a smooth brown hair.

…If only it would made him blush in shyness like any other boys, because Sans froze dead on the spot instead; an unreadable expression etched on his face as the girl shook his hand and told him her name.

"I'm Asuna. Pleased to meet you, Sans."

His senses were numbed and all that he wanted to do at that very moment was nothing more than to get away from her as soon as possible as old memories flooded his mind; memories that he never, ever, _**ever**_ thought he would remember again.

"…"

"Uh… Sans? Are you okay?"

Her words snapped him out of his frozen state and he regained his composure as he forced his smile; which felt much harder than usual.

"O-Oh! R-Right… Asuna, huh? Well, I'll remember it!"

His façade was slowly being shattered as cold sweat was pouring out of his body.

An extremely uncomfortable chill crawled up his spine and he couldn't take it anymore.

 _ **He had to get away from her**_.

"W-Wow, look at the time. Guess I overstayed my welcome. You should rest soon, after all you have a big day tomorrow."

She nodded as Sans began to walk away rather quickly, but then he suddenly stopped and spoke without looking back, "Oh and one last thing… _**don't die.**_ "

Asuna was a bit taken aback. She had been living and fighting alone for almost a month now, like everybody else, so hearing that someone genuinely cared for her well-being and expected her to return alive, it brought a familiar sense of warmth into her heart; something that she might have forgotten how it felt.

Although, it was a completely different kind of familiar feeling compared to what Sans was having.

She didn't realize it, but she blushed a bit as she simply nodded. "Mm."

Sans began to walk again, but then Asuna called out to him, "W-Wait!"

He cursed inwardly, but endured his discomfort with his still smiling as ever, "Yea?"

"T-Thank you for the food. I'll pay you back one day."

Sans forced a wider smile, "D-don't mention. I'm glad you liked it." He winked and gave her a thumb up, "Besides, if you were _**that**_ hungry again, I'll be glad to buy you more."

The blush on Asuna's face deepened as she looked up and spoke in embarrassment.

"M-Mou, s-shut up! It's not my fault that I've been focusing on leveling up, rather than waste my time doing something like eating!"

Sans faked a laugh and continued on his way as he waved his hand without looking back.

When he was sure that he was out of her vision, his smile turned into a look of despair as tears began to stream down the side of his face.

Sans ran away with a single thought echoing in his mind.

 **[WHY IS SHE HERE?!]**

* * *

 _ **The Next Day…**_

* * *

A bone erupted out of the ground. Another one erupted again and again, then finally after a series of ten bones coming out of the ground, five more sprouted out simultaneously. The bones didn't move for a moment, but then they glitched out of existence, leaving the ground as it was before as if nothing had come out of it in the first place.

In a dark clearing of the forest outside of the town of Torbana, Sans was lying down on the grass. His breath was ragged and unsteady as sweat poured from all over his body. Dried tears covered most of his face as he merely stared at the sky of dawn with a lifeless look.

He couldn't sleep at all since last night. He spent too much time crying his heart out until he was eventually out of tears, but when he did, he began to train himself harder than he had ever done, pushing himself until he collapsed.

The clearing where he was at was perfect for his situations. It wasn't that close to the monster spawn area and at the same time it was also quite a walk out of town so he figured that it'd be safe to do so without anybody finding out. For example, let out everything he had been bottling up and exhausting himself through training like he just did.

It was strange, he thought. He always wondered why the game glitched out on him. He was merely naming his character with the name of some other character he admired so why would the game go as far as giving him this magical power of _**Sans**_ when it is within the system's code that there should be no such thing as magic in Aincrad?

Why did the game mess around with his stats? Why did he get this power? What was the point of the game allowing him to be able to actually feel pain? What was the point of the game giving him enhanced senses? And lastly, what was the point to all… _**this**_?

However, despite still having so many unanswered questions, another one had been added into that piled up questions.

 _ **Of all the times there is in this whole wide world, why in the name of hell was his past haunting him now?**_

As he thought about these unspoken questions, the sun had begun to rise over the horizon, illuminating the night sky with its glorious sunlight once more.

It's been years now and he didn't want to remember it; no, he didn't want to accept it; but now, being the new person he was, he gave up.

He had to accept it, now. He can't change the past. He had to let go.

…f he could, of course, because no matter how much he accepted it, no matter how much he tried to let go, and no matter how much he wanted to forget, he could never, ever forget the night where his family was ruined into broken pieces.

The time had come. It was seven o'clock, an hour before the scheduled time, and Kirito and Klein woke up. The duo was surprise to see Sans already up so early, sitting down the chair staring outside the window with an unreadable expression.

Klein asked what was wrong and Sans seemed to flinch at the question before putting on his Sans façade once again and telling that everything was fine.

Kirito and Klein knew that something up, but they decided not to dwell on it; they had an important thing to do, they mustn't get distracted.

The three of them walked through the town heading for the Tower Dungeon. Kirito and Klein shared a few stories of their one-month worth of adventure as they occasionally threw a joke or two.

However, it was then they realized that Sans had been silent for the whole time, not even interrupting the both of them to throw in any puns or bad jokes as he simply walked right beside them with his seemingly everlasting smile.

But Kirito and Klein knew that behind his smile, Sans was definitely hiding something; they could see it in his evidently lifeless eyes. The two didn't know how to being, but feeling the need to do something, thus Kirito began.

"So, Sans, didn't know you were such an early bird."

"hm? well, now u know."

An awkward silence fell between the three friends and Klein finally had enough.

"Where did you go yesterday, Sans?"

"oh, u know… just around."

"Really…?"

"yup."

"…You're not lying to us right?"

"why would i do that?"

Klein and Kirito looked at each other and sighed while Sans merely tilted his head in confusion; something was up.

"…is something wrong?"

Klein shook his head, "No, no, we trust you."

"…oookay?"

Sans looked around and he realized that they had arrived at the gate of the town. He stopped dead on his tracks follow by his two friends.

"What's wrong, Sans?" Klein asked

"heh, sorry guys, but this is as far as i would go." _**[Well I**_ could _ **fight with you, but if I do, I'd only help you in rising then numbers of casualty.]**_

"E-Eh? What are you talking about?"

Sans closed his eyes as he gave them his usual smile, "you won't need me in there. i figured that the least i could do was accompany u two before u actually fight."

"What are you talking about, Sans? We need all the help we can get!"

Sans chuckled as he smiled sadly, _**[If only you both remember why I can't…]**_

Klein probably wasn't paying attention when Sans did his experiments and Kirito probably forgot about his predicament. After all, lots of stuffs had happened since the beginning of this death game; not everyone have the time to remember everything since everyone was too busy trying to survive.

"nah, i'm sure that u guys can handle it. i'm too lazy to do anything today so i'll probably head back to the inn for a nap or two... heh, maybe i'll try to get a job today, if i feel like it."

Klein sighed and shook his head as Kirito laughed, "I can't believe this. We're trapped in a game where we can _**die**_ at _**any**_ possible moment, yet here you are slacking off as if things are fine the way it is… Un. Beliveable."

Sans laughed harder in irony at what he just said, "oh klein, you have _**no**_ idea."

"Well then, me and Kirito will do _**all**_ the work for you and fight to get us all out of here as fast as we can. I guess you don't wanna get a part of the glory~!" Klein tried to trick Sans to join the fight.

Sans chuckled again, "whatever it is you're trying to do, klein, it ain't working, brah." He paused then continued, "'sides, u can go ahead and do that, cuz' i absolutely _**love**_ doing nothing."

"Awww, man... Fine! Be that way. I'll see you on the second floor. Hmph!" He pouted.

He turned around and walked off childishly. Kirito and Sans merely sweat dropped.

"And… yeah. So there you have it. I guess, we're going now, Sans."

"yea, u go on ahead and fight. just promise me u'll keep urself and… well, just try to stop klein from getting himself killed, will ya?"

"Hahaha, I can take care of myself, but Klein? No promises."

The two laughed at the morbid joke, but they both knew that they won't let that ever happen; never.

"anyway, time to go. i'll see u around."

"Alright, then. Until we meet again, Sans."

Kirito turned around and was about to head for the Dungeon, but Sans called out for him.

"actually…"

"What is it, Sans?"

"say, have you made a party yet?"

"A-Ah… a party… right."

Sans sweat dropped with an "I knew it" expression while Kirito looked a bit embarrassed as he put on a face that says, "Shut up!"

"you're such an antisoc—"

"I-it's not my fault alright! Klein said that his party was full and I didn't know anyone… beside I don't need anyone to help me!"

"whoa there, careful now. arrogance is the downfall of many legendary warriors or so i've heard."

"Well, it's not arrogance if it's the truth."

Sans sighed, "if u say so." But then he continued, "still, let me give u an advice. when you're on your way there, walk at the back of the group and look for a cloaked girl with a rapier. i met her last night and she said that she wasn't in a party. u should ask her to party up with you before diavel ask if anyone doesn't have a party yet."

"…What's that supposed to mean?"

"who knows? maybe you'd prefer explaining to diavel why you don't have a party member. what was the reason again… oh right, ' _sorry diavel, but i'm too shy and powerful to ask anyone to create or join a party, so pls just let me off the hook for now!'_ yea, i bet he and _**everyone**_ would definitely understand and _**not**_ laugh at you, if you say that."

Kirito's eyebrow flinched as Sans merely smirked as he closed one eye and looked to the side.

"anyway, look at the time. you gotta hurry, so i'll see you soon."

"W-Wait, Sans—!"

Sans turned around and looked at him dead in the eye.

"There's nothing more to be said, Kirito. Now get out there and bring back hope to those who lost it in the Town of Beginnings. We are all counting on all of you. _**I'm**_ counting on you."

Kirito sighed and nodded. "Okay."

Sans smiled at his reply, "good. well then, see ya on the other floor."

They both turned around and began walking in opposite directions

Kirito looked back toward Sans and thought,

 _ **[Sans had changed... but he seemed normal to me.]**_ He shook his head as he continued walking toward the dungeon, _ **[...Maybe it's just our imagination.]**_

Little did Kirito knew, that if he were to see Sans' face at that moment, he could see the cold and emotionless expression etched on Sans' face.

And as time seemed to slow down as the distance between them grew, the two could only wonder what the fate had in store for them, for no one could have foreseen the events that would unfold next.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_

 **ATTENTION!** I'd like to warn you that I've decided that the Kirito in this story will slightly be OOC. Specifically, he'll become a bit more of an emo compared to who he is cannon, but don't worry, he won't become someone as emo as Sasuke Uchiha... maybe, lol. Point is, if you hate OOCs, well, sorry to disappoint that's just how I decide to roll... one thing for sure though, there won't be that much change to Kirito other than his personality.

...Probably should mention the fact that he'll lose his harem, but, oops! _**SPOILER ALERT!**_

Anyway, sorry, if it turned out badly… Midterm is coming up real soon and I was busy going on Baseball competition sooo sorry that I can't update regularly.

And goddamn it, this writer's block is _**killing**_ me…

Thank you for those that reviewed and gave me their comments! Your faves and follow is greatly appreciated and it motivated me to continue this story.

I can't promise you great quality writings, nor can I promise you shorter/longer chapters, but I hope you enjoy reading what I write. Any constructive comments or ideas or questions can be sent via PM-ing me or Reviewing.

Well, that's all I guess. Without further ado,

See ya next chapt, Capt!

:v /


	4. A Bright Future Is Ahead

_Dark… nothing except the cold void of darkness as far as eyes could see._

 **[Why is everything so dark?]** _He asked._

 **[Where am I?]**

 **[What's happening to me?]**

 _He kept asking other questions… but nobody came to answer it._

 _It was true. There was nothing around him; nothing but the seemingly endless void of darkness. But with each passing seconds, the darkness around him started to take a shape into a place. He didn't recognize his surroundings, but wherever he was, he was sure that it was abandoned for a long time._

 _In this cold and dark place, he looked around to find out what was going on and eventually his eyes landed on something that caught his full attention; a boy tied to big rusty vat. The vat was full of unknown chemical, glowing ominously under the dimly lit room._

 **[… Huh? What… is this place?]**

 _He looked around and could see no one else in this strange place, but then he felt it. A_ **scream** _._

 _As if popping out of nowhere, three masked men appeared around the tied up boy, one of them armed with a pistol pointed at the boy's head, who was now crying silently with a look of fear._

 **[W-What the hell…?]**

 _He widened his eyes as he felt other presences in the room. He turned around to see three other people kneeling behind him; all of them having look of horror etched on their faces. One of them was a man of his mid-thirties and the other was a woman of her late-twenties._

 **[M-Mom? Dad…?]**

 _However, the last one that he noticed caught his full attention. She was a young girl who seemed to be on her teenage years with a familiar brown hairs and beautiful face resembling—_

 **[A-Asuna—No… big sis…?]**

 _They were screaming something at the three masked men, yet he couldn't hear anything. Silently watching the event unfold, he observed what was going on in worry. There was something that had been nagging at the back at his head since the beginning of this weird occurrence; he felt that something was really,_ **really** _wrong._

 **[W-What is this…?]**

 _It was then the conversation between the two parties escalated quickly and before he realized the armed masked man pointed his gun toward the other fear-stricken man. He had to stop this now before things get really bad._

 **[E-Eh? What's happening to me…?]**

 _He opened his mouth to say stop the masked man… but his voice wouldn't come out. His body began to shake in fear; just what was happening to him?_

 **[What is this…?]**

 _Conversation between the man and the masked person intensifies, yet no sound was heard by his ears._

 **[What…** _is_ **this?!]**

 _He kept screaming telling them to stop, yet just like them his voice didn't come out as he was forced to simply watch the event unfold._

 **[WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?! STOP—!]**

 ***BANG!***

 _The bullet casing fell and bounced on the floor with a series of clinks as he watched his big sister used her body to save his father. Blood poured out of the hole the bullet made in her chest as his father and mother held her dying body in their arms, colors draining from her face with each passing seconds as looks of horror were etched on their faces._

 _One of the masked men fell on the floor; fear was too etched on his masked face as his body shook. The other two men approached the grieving parents and he had enough; he ran to punch their faces._

 _However, as if he was a ghost, they all walked through him and seemed to laugh heartily after killing the girl. He tried to stop them again, yet his hands just phased through them as the armed man pointed his gun at the grieving father's head._

 **[No, please stop! No, DON'T—!]**

 _Then another loud_ **bang** _interrupted his thought. The pistol echoed in this dimly lit place. More fresh blood poured on the floor out of the hole of the flesh that the bullet pierced through._

 _However, when he expected his father to fell limp on the ground, the armed man fell instead with a bleeding hole on the back of his head. He turned around to see the boy who managed to get out of the rope that was tying him up to the rusty vat, holding a smoking pistol that was aimed at the armed masked man._

 _The other man went into a fit of rage and took the dead man's gun, but then a series of bangs echoed again, followed by a series of loud clicks; he was too late for the boy shot his pistol faster than the man did, shooting non-stop until all that's left of the pistol was a series of clicks from the now emptied gun. As if it was a second nature for the boy, his bullets struck true on their targets which landed on the masked man's stomach, shoulder, chest and eventually his heart._

 _The boy then got up emotionlessly and walked slowly towards the two dead men. He approached their faces and stood froze. A few moments later, his face turned into a maniacal grin and laughed uncontrollably as he began to mash their faces in with the empty gun without mercy; their skulls caving in as blood covered the floor and his hands._

 _His parents froze and simply watched their supposed son turning the dead men's head into mush. Fear was no longer etched on the boy's face, only…_ **madness.**

 _The other masked man widened his eyes in horror even more and realized that the boy got out of the rope and used his gun to kill his now dead comrades. He was truly scared and did the most logical course of action he could think of; he ran away._

 _Sans watched as the event unfolded in front of him in silence as tears began to flow down his cheeks. Then he flinched when the five people in this room, including the corpses of the men and girl turned their faces towards him._

 _A disturbing voice echoed in his mind._

 **.̱̠̙̜̆͂ͥ̒̉̓͆.̦͙͔̪͎͋ͬͩ̀͆͆̈́͟.̳͖̹ͫ̕ͅy̳͓͍̲̳̯̍̒̆̍ͬǒ͔̺̼̖̠̭̔̀̿ͪͭͅu̴͖̬͚̞͎r̀ͯ͢ ̺̠̳̼͎̹̅͗͜f̛̞͊ͧa͎͆̍͌ͩͭͪ̚u͖̜͇͉͗͆͊̌́l̺t̞ͯͥ̊.̴̭̤̘̤̂̓.͉̙̊̃̍ͥ͘.̶̞̖̱ͯ**

 _His breathing quickened as his body shivered in fear and confusion. The words kept echoing to the point it started to hurt him. He shut his eyes as he clutched his head in pain, the echo becoming louder and more disturbing with each passing moments, but the moment he opened his eyes again, he was met with the three dead corpses' faces suddenly standing right in front of him; extremely frightening smiles etched on their faces as fresh blood was pouring out of their eyes, mouths and faces._

 _The echo got louder and louder until he begged for it to stop, only for the pain to intensify multiple times over. Kneeling in fear, pain and confusion, he kept begging for the voices to stop until—_

 _._

 _._

 **T̷͕͕̼͍̱̞̫͐͛̒̌̀͢Ḣ͕̠̰̙̆̔̓͢͠I̸̴̸̡̖̜͉̪̞̦͚͇̽̾̽͑̽ͧ̓́ͫ̃̆̽ͦ̀̇̆͊ͬ͐S̸̰̳̰̖͈̫̼̖̞͕̻̼̠̳ͮ̅͊̚͞ ̷̼̹̦̞̰̦̜̏̅ͧ̈́ͪͪ̅͂ͮ̚͞͡I̧̼̪̻̺̥̬̳̤̱̞̗̹͈̤̮ͤͯ̅ͨ́͝S̷̶̻̤͙̰̜̠̮̹͓̿̈́͋͌ͬ̽͆̀ͣ͂̎ ̵̸̜̯̯̱̭̤̗̘̠̖͉͔̣̦̫̔̾̂͌̊̅ͤ̀̓ͫͫ̃̇ͬ̈́̉̽̎́͟͡A̡͑͌̑̓̔ͨ́͏̫͇̖̗͍͔͕̲Ļ̶̡̧̠͓̰̞̫̮͍̳̞̳̩̖̫̳̮̮͔̆ͯ́̾ͬ͗ͩ̋ͩ̾̑̐̈̚̚͡L̸̷̮̟̦̭̖̯̱͕̣̪̄ͩͨ̑̚̕͘͜ ̴̳̳̩̮͙̱̰̥̦̖̝͉̖͚̯̠̟͌͌̔̿͂̾ͯ̆́ͤ̑ͣͬ͞Y̴̡̛̳̠̯̬̣̤͉̙͙̩̩͖̠͓̩̰̱̲ͦ̿̏̔̑͐ͮ̀̃̚̚͠O̧̠̲̳͓͈͎͗̋ͮ͋̀U͌̂̐͐̔̋͏̱̭͓̟̳͉̯͚̠̪̼͓͔̜̫͡Rͥ̈͆̏͏̛҉̫̯͇͇͖̻͍̙̖̱̱̪͇̟͎͓͞ ͋̍͆͂̍̽ͩͯͮ̅ͥ͌̊͊̄҉̵̖͕͕͎̲̘̰̱͈̱̬̬̩́͝͞F̴̢͇͙̝̹̼̤̿̎͒͂̀̔ͨ̒͛́͠͝A̧̢͊̋͌ͭͭ̓ͧ̐ͣͪͪͮͤ͠҉̙͉̫̝͖U̷̴̲̜̰͐ͨ̏ͤ̾ͯ̔̀̐͌ͩ̿̍̅̽͒̀͟L̷̵̖͚̭̗̮̖̲̤̞̲̺̠̼̠̋̂͗͆̄̂̏̑ͣ̃̅̉̅͂̿͠͝Ţ̷̶̭͖̣̭͈̺̼͚̯̤͇̼̠͍͓̠̠̰̇̊͆ͥ͛͟ͅ!̶̵̛̬̣̣̺̦̻͎̬̔͊́́̓̈́ͪ͗̅̃ͭͧ̚̕ͅ**

 **.**

 **.**

* * *

" _ **GAAAH**_!"

Sans jumped out of his bed, breathing heavily and quickly as his whole body was covered in cold sweat. It took him a few good minutes to regain his composure before he realized.

"t… this nightmare… again?"

He noticed that the sky outside his window was shining brightly; he overslept.

"…how long has it been since i had these nightmares? heh, and here i thought i moved on..."

Washing his face, he looked at his own sorry state in the mirror of his bathroom and chuckled as he forced himself to smile at his own reflection.

"i'm tired of riding this same nightmare every time i sleep… can't I just get a different horse?"

He laughed in sadness at his own joke, but then lost his façade as he sat down on the bathroom floor, hugging his knees and burying his face into it as he forced himself to keep smiling even though tears were pouring out of the corner of his eyes like waterfall.

"asuna… heh, what are the odds that i met someone that reminds me a lot of you, big sis?"

* * *

 _ **Friday, 3**_ _ **rd**_ _ **of February, 2023; One of the Towns in Floor 7**_

* * *

Sans was walking down the street of the town with the hood of his hoodie covering his face. He forgot what the town's name was, but it wasn't like he cared that much. He kept walking on until he arrived at one of the town's restaurants.

"Welcome to Grizelda's! Can I get you anything, Sir?" The beautiful young NPC asked him.

"hmm… what's special for today?" he smiled at her.

"Oh, I'm glad you asked! Our special for today is our Triple Burg Deluxe with our signature Fermented Mixed Smoothie!"

"ah, that's too bad."

"E-Eh, really? If that doesn't interest you, then what would?"

"i was hoping i could have _**you**_ instead~" Sans winked his left eye at her.

"Oho, my, my, keep trying and I just might fall for you, Sir~!" The NPC blushed a bit and giggled softly then led him to his seat; a table for two.

"Here's your table, Sir. One Triple Burg Deluxe and Fermented Mixed Smoothie are coming right up!"

He thanked her and waited for his order.

"i didn't know NPCs would respond to flirting... heh, guess they evolve quickly through interactions with other players then, ain't that interesting… though not as interesting as the fact that it meant there were already thousands of other players that tried to hit on the NPCs, lol." Chuckling to himself before stopping, his trademark smile disappeared from his face.

How long had it been since he was trapped in this hell hole? Ah, yes… it had been three months, hadn't it? Three months of being trapped in this virtual reality, forced to endure and live with this glitch for every single day of his life in here.

He gripped his head in pain; a headache caused by his enhanced senses. A few moments later, he sighed and kept enduring it. No matter how much he tried, it seemed like he just couldn't get used to it.

A lot of things had happened since that day on the First Floor. The Clearer that went into the tower dungeon with determination and hope came back with looks of sadness and anger; their leader, Diavel, fell in battle. On that same day, Sans noticed that Kirito had unfriended him, disappearing without a trace as Klein did.

He asked around about what happened, but the answer he got was not what he expected. They spoke of a cheating beta-tester, whose physical description perfectly matched that of Kirito, who arrogantly bragged about being better than beta-testers and that all beta-testers weren't that much different than the newbies, perhaps even worse.

Sans didn't really understand what they meant, but whatever Kirito said, it seemed to…loosen up the tense situation between beta-testers and newbies; maybe Kirito did what he did on purpose for this very reason, maybe he simply changed and bragged for no reason at all. Well either way, with the relationship between newbies and beta-testers fixed, the Clearers quickly advanced to the next following floors until eventually everyone had arrived here on the highest floor that players had reached so far; the Seventh Floor.

Ever since Torbana he kept wondering, just what the hell did he miss that day? What happened to Kirito? Where was Klein? Silence was all he got as answers, as always. Not only that, but the fact that this nightmare had become a normal occurrence ever since he met that girl called Asuna also didn't help his situation in anyway; he wanted to talk to her again, but just like his friends, he couldn't find her anywhere.

Not knowing what to do anymore, he merely did what he does best in heavy situation like these; he didn't give a shit anymore.

"Sorry for the wait! Here's your Triple Burg Deluxe and your Fermented Mix Smoothie, Sir. I hope you enjoy!"

"hm? oh, right. thanks." He spoke with his usual fake smile.

He stared at his meal for a moment then pulled up his hood and began to devour his meal; his face still emotionless. Then—

"Uh, excuse me, but… You're Sans, right? Sans the Chubby Skeleton?" a boy asked him.

Sans froze as his eye twitched.

 **[…wat? did he just… oh he did** _not_ **! i'm not chubby! i'm just…** _big-boned._ **]**

The boy looked like he was around fourteen years old. He had a rather exotic skin tone and wore a light yellow armor and leggings. His eyes were brown in color with a messy jet black hair on top of his head.

"yup, that's me alright. wazzup?" Sans answered with his trademark smile.

The boy widened his eyes and turned around then spoke excitedly.

"Big brother, it's him, it's him! I _**told**_ you it was him all along!"

"hm?" Sans tilted his head in confusion.

"O-oh, right! Probably should introduce myself first. I'm MegaZ360, but please just call me Z."

Sans was about to ask why he came to greet him, but then he cut him off.

"Um, sorry, but could you please wait a moment? I'll be right back!" He walked away and he could hear him say, "C'mon on out, big bro!"

"O-Oi, don't pull me like that! It's embarrassing!"

Z came back while pulling the arm of another older looking boy, who looked around twenty years old.

"But it's _**him**_! You shouldn't hide like that if you're going to thank him!"

Sans inspected the boy's big brother. His skin tone was as tan as the younger brother was, but he was more handsome in appearance compared to him. He also had an ample, black wavy hair and the same brown colored eyes.

An awkward silence fell between the three of them and then the bigger brother sighed as he began to talk.

"Sorry, about that. My brother is kind of energetic and I can't really say I'm not too. I was a little shy to greet you since it has been a long time since we met."

"really? oh… sorry, i don't remember. _**tibia**_ honest with you, i have a really terrible memory."

"Hahaha, one of your bone jokes again, huh… how nostalgic…" He wistfully chuckled, "Ah, by the way, its fine, its fine. After all, we didn't meet on a… great situation."

He noticed the grim expression of regret the man tried to hide; knowing that he was probably one of the many people he convinced _**not**_ to do something _**stupid**_ on the first floor.

"i see… welp, anyway, guess ya already know my name, so what's yours?"

"Gosh, you're right! I haven't introduced myself, have I? How rude of me…" He extended a hand, "I'm PoH, pleased to meet you!"

Sans smiled wider and returned his gesture…

…But then a loud farting noise echoed in the restaurant _ **.**_

PoH froze with a comical look as Sans laughed out loud as the other customers stared at them in disgust.

"pfft! the old whoopee-cushion on the hand trick! it's _**ALWAYS**_ funny!"

The moment Sans cleared up the misunderstanding, everyone that heard him soon laughed too at PoH's predicament. PoH blushed in embarrassment as his brother Z was literally still rolling on the floor laughing out loud as he did so. In the end, even he couldn't deny that it was funny and trio laughed together in unison.

Soon the laughter died down and Sans spoke again.

"anyway… have you guys eaten yet?"

"We have, why?" Z asked.

"nothing. just figured that since you two might have something to talk about with me, i think it'd be better to do it somewhere else."

"I'm game, but do you have a place in mind, Sans?" PoH asked.

"hmm… the town square is always nice. besides, it's a beautiful day outside. might as well enjoy it, right?"

"Yeah, you're right."

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Z pushed them out of the restaurant in excitement.

* * *

The walk to the town square was as peaceful. Sans introduced himself a bit to his two new acquaintances as they talked more about random things like how lively the town square are or how beautiful the day was.

Few minutes later, of course, they arrived at their destination; a spot with benches near the corner of the town square for people to take a break. The three players took their seats and Sans began their conversation with his usual trademark smile never leaving his face.

"so… what were you going to say?"

PoH went silent for a few moments, then he took a deep breath and replied.

"Sans, what you did to me on the first floor... I didn't know what came over me and I wasn't in my right mind to do what I was about to do in the past…

"But then you showed up and got me back to my senses; putting me back on the right track. For that reason, Sans, I'm really, really thankful. Truly, thank you very much for saving me!" PoH and Z bowed to him.

Sans went quiet. True, he had saved quite a bit of people, but none of them have ever thanked him like this since that day. He met some of them, few would greet him and ask about how he was doing and others would simply ignore or perhaps forgot him already. He didn't care too much about it though; all he did care about was the fact that they were all smiling when he saw them.

And for that reason, he was at loss for words.

"heh… well... knock, knock."

"…W-What?" PoH asked questionably at Sans who seemed to disregard his thank-you speech for a knock-knock joke.

"knock. knock."

"…who's there?"

"dishes."

"dishes who?"

"dishes awkward…"

The two was silent for a few seconds, but then PoH started chuckling and before he knew it, his chuckles turned into a full blown laughter as his brother Z smiled.

"Haha, you… you really do know how to break a moment, don't you?"

"heh, that's what i do best, i think." Sans shrugged as he winked.

"But seriously, I'm sorry for trying to commit—"

"no, no, don't be. we were all afraid when _**he**_ announced that this game was… well, not a _**game.**_ your reasons are understandable… all i care about is the fact that you turned a new leaf until you're here to thank me yourself…" Sans paused for a moment, his face looking away at the bustling town square.

He turned toward PoH and closed his eyes, giving him his warm smile as he continued.

"i'm happy to hear that really, but it's just that… well, frankly, it's kind of my first time being thanked to this extent, so i don't really know what to say." He scratched his cheek in slight embarrassment, "anyway, i appreciate it. it really made it feel like the work i did paid off."

Sans smiled at the two brothers and continued.

"well, enough about me, sit down and relax, will ya. tell me, what've you done since the first floor, poh?"

PoH and Z sat next to him and PoH replied.

"Well, I leveled up together with my younger brother here and with the help of the guide the beta-testers are sharing to newbies. We're not strong enough to fight bosses yet, but we've partied up with the other clearers to clear the dungeon and find the bosses' rooms for a few times before."

"really? well, i'm glad you're getting good at it. just keep hanging in there and we all would be out of this mess in no time."

 **[…Maybe.]**

"Yeah, I agree…"

An awkward silence fell between the three of them again.

"O-oh, I know! I'll buy us some snacks. I'll be right back!"

"you don't really have to, but if you insist, then it's cool."

With that PoH nodded and walked off to buy something as his younger brother chuckled.

"somethin' tickling your funny bones?"

"What? No… it's just. It's kind of the first time I see my brother being awkward around people… Usually, he's more energetic and adventurous; even more than I am!"

"heh, really?"

"Yup!" The two shared a laughed, but then Z continued slowly, "…But really, Sans. I have to thank you for what you did too. If it weren't for you, I probably would never have met my brother on the first floor... I don't how could I live with myself if I know that my own brother killed himself and I wasn't there to stop him.

"…You see, our loving dad passed away when we were younger, so it's just our mother and us at home now. Well, the point is we only have each other to look out for so we had to stick together til the end, that's why… umm, Sans? What's so funny?" Z asked as he noticed Sans began chuckling.

"hehe, nah it's just that… well, looks like it's fun to have a sibling. can't say i know how it feels since i'm an only child…" Sans then sighed and spoke slowly, "i'm sorry for your loss tho, i'm sure your dad was a really great guy."

"Oh, I see… and thank you."

Silence again fell between them, but then Sans began to speak again with a happier tone.

"well, i appreciate it, but you really didn't have to thank me. i'd do it even if you're not gonna thank me anyway. we need every help we can get and we players gotta stick together to get out of this game, don't we?"

"Well…you have a point there."

The two smiled and then a familiar voice interrupted them.

"I'm back! Look, I found something cool!"

"What did you—e-eh…?"

The two boy froze with a grim look at what PoH was holding; it looked like a popcorn-styled grilled blue crabs with a green gooey sauce over it. Overall, it looked absolutely, disgusting.

Sans looked at Z comically in silent and vice versa for a few minutes as if talking to each other via telepathy.

 **[…is this what you meant by 'adventurous'?]**

 **[I-It's not like that, but things like these do happens…]**

 **[well, can't you do anything about this? i ain't eating** _that_ **]**

 **[Neither will I!]**

"Here you go—"

"a-ah, didn't you know why skeletons don't eat? well it's because they don't have the _**stomach**_ for it, heh."

"Sans, you're not a skeleton." PoH deadpanned, "What's wrong? Here! Don't about pay—"

"i-i'll pass. just realized i'm too full to eat anything else." Sans looked away with his trademark smile; acting as innocent as he could.

Z gaped at him in disbelief.

 **[H-How could you abandon me?!** ]

 **[everyman for himself, z!]**

"Oh really? Fine… then I guess you'll have to do, Z. Here you go!"

"I-I'll pass too! I'm full!"

"Full? All we ate was breakfast and that's only a few sandwiches… I _**know**_ you're nowhere near full yet."

Z froze with a comical look, knowing that he was doomed. Then he turned toward Sans and resumed their telepathic conversation.

 **[S-Sans, help me!]**

Sans put on a grim expression and saluted.

 **[…you'll forever be in my memory…]**

 **[Y-You** _TRAITOR_ **!]**

"Z? Oi, you there? Here's your sna—"

"A-As if I'll eat that! Get it away from me!"

"What? It's just grilled mini-crabs!" he paused, "…probably."

"Probably?!"

"Oh, come on! It doesn't look _**that**_ bad!"

PoH held one on his hand at Z, the mini crab-like creature still wiggling its small legs.

 **[it** _does_ **look that bad, no matter how you look at it, oi.]**

 **[It** _does_ **look that bad, no matter how you look at it, oi!]**

The two thought in unison.

"Here, say, ' _Ah_ '!"

"There's no way in hell that I'll—!" Before he could even finish, PoH forced one of them down his throat.

"EWW—GOD! It taste—!"

Z suddenly paused and began munching on the disgusting snack with a curious look.

"What? It tastes what?"

"…Hey it's pretty good now that I think of it!" He spoke as he chewed the disgusting meal.

"o-o rly?"

"Well, the shell's kind of crunchy, the legs are still wiggling, the gooey sauce is absolutely revolting and—"

Z suddenly collapsed as his HP hit the critical zone… and all of this happened while they were all still _**within**_ the town's safe zone.

" _ **AH!**_ Z! Get a hold of yourself! Don't die on me yet, bro! Noooooooooooo!"

Sans merely stared at the two siblings and sweat dropped.

 **[…well, this is gonna be interesting.]**

* * *

"Come on, how long are you going to stay mad at me, Z?"

"…"

"give it up, poh. it's your fault for forcing him to eat it too…and you didn't even try it first _**before**_ giving it to him." Sans deadpanned.

"But, but if I did that then what's the point of having my bro?"

"Oi! Don't turn me into your guinea pig!" Z's eyebrow twitched furiously as he retorted.

Sans could only laugh at the brothers' antics and the moment they noticed his laughter, they felt ashamed and stopped arguing as they laugh together too.

"Fine, I forgive you… but you owe me a favor."

"Deal. Besides, I learned something too…"

"what's that?"

"Never trust an NPC selling food in a big white wagon." PoH spoke sagely; the two merely stared at him in silence.

Sans sighed and looked at the time.

"wow, it's four o'clock already? time sure flies, huh?"

"Huh? Wait… _**FOUR O'CLOCK**_?!"

"uh… yea, why?"

Sans tilted his head.

"Today's our guild's one month anniversary! Goddamn it, how could I forget?!" PoH face palmed.

"ah, so you're busy then… well, don't let me hold you up. it has been nice to meet you both so i'll just—"

"Hold on! Where do you think you're going?"

"what? i'm leaving of course."

"Oh, no you don't! I haven't finished thanking you, yet!"

"wait—"

"Ah, that's it, big bro! Why don't we just bring him to the party and ask him to join us!"

"oi, oi, hold on—!"

"That's a great idea, Z! Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go, go, go!"

Sans widened his eyes as PoH suddenly lifted him up onto his shoulder and ran away toward his guild's home.

* * *

A few minutes after Sans was being kidnapped, the three arrived near at a cabin near the woods which was just right at the edge of the town. When they arrived, the three players were greeted by four other players who asked who Sans was and after he introduced himself they welcomed him with open arms.

Sans entered the cabin and inspected what was inside. The cabin was really spacious. There were sofas, coffee tables and few rooms as well as having a huge kitchen and a dining room. Beautiful flower pots were put on the corners of the room which made the atmosphere seemed calm and soothing as the fireplace crackled softly as the woods inside began to burn into charcoals, warming up the room with its heat.

Everyone had gathered on the dining room and Sans could only describe it with a single word; Feast. Multiple delicious foods were laid out on the plates as their mouthwatering fragrance filled the air.

PoH cleared his throat, gaining the attention of everyone within the room, and stood up.

"Alright, everyone, it had been a month since we all met each other and formed this guild we call the _**Final Seekers**_. So many things had happened to all of us ever since Kayaba Akihiko announced that we are trapped in this world until we clear the game and I know that celebrating something like an anniversary after only a mere month might seem stupid and naïve… but I'm sure that we all understand what each of us had to go through these past three months. The fear… the anxiety… the sadness…

"However, we will not give up! We all have our own lives to get back to in the real world now, don't we? If we give up now, then how are we supposed to get back to our lives in reality?!

"My friends, like you too, I am afraid… like you too, I don't want to die. I want to survive, _**we**_ want to survive. I know that we all could have just give up and let the other Clearers win the game for us... but is that really what we want? Will we really just sit idle by wallowing in despair and self-pity like those people on the first floor while someone else are doing our fights for us?

"That's why, everyone, let us fight. Let us all fight together for our lives! It's only our first month, but together we all will grow stronger and stronger until we beat this game that Kayaba Akihiko trapped us in! For we are the _**Final Seekers,**_ thosewho seek this game's finale! So please everyone… I'm begging you, lend me your strengths and let us keep fighting together in this guild and make sure that we keep each other alive so that we all could be together again like this in reality!"

PoH bowed before everyone within the room. Although not the best, it was still a touching speech, Sans thought to himself. Sans looked around and saw that the speech made the others shed a few tears.

He smiled at the determined look they all shared together, but then he looked away and smiled sadly.

… **If only he had a reason to go back into the real world.**

A sudden round of applause echoed in the room and PoH stood back up again with a happy smile on his face. Then PoH held up a glass of ale and ended his speech.

"Well, without further ado, for our guild's one month anniversary and our friendship, CHEERS!"

"Cheers!" Everyone toasted in unison.

Sans saw the genuine happy smiles on their faces. He shook off the morbid thinking and decided to put on his biggest smile as he too toasted along with everyone else.

"Well, then what are we waiting for? Let's dig in!" PoH said excitedly as the others laughed at his antic.

Sans was helping himself with the food and a woman beside him said.

"So… Sans right? To be honest, we were a bit surprised when Winnie suddenly came home while dragging someone along with him. We thought that he kidnapped someone else… _**again**_."

She had a beautiful purple hair and a pair of bright yellow eyes with a pale skin. Judging from her age, she seemed to be in her early twenties and she wore a purple-colored set of arguably revealing armors; though he won't comment on it.

Sans was about to laugh at her comment but then realized something.

 _ **[wait… '**_ again' _ **?]**_

"Hm? What's wrong Sans?"

 _ **[…on second thought, maybe i shouldn't ask.]**_

"oh sorry, i was spacing out… anyway, who's 'winnie'?"

"Oh, come on! Really, Tanya? Don't tell him stuffs he doesn't need to know!" PoH pouted.

"Hahaha, if only you'd stop reacting that way, then _**maybe**_ she'd stop teasing you about it." laughed a brown-haired boy.

He was eighteen years old, had a normal tan skin-tone and had a large, muscular body build. His hair and eyes are normal black with a heavy set of black-colored armors on his body.

"She meant an old children cartoon about a cute, klutzy, yellow, honey bear called 'Winnie the P'oh'."

"hm… never heard of it before, but i'll keep that in mind." Sans and the two players shared their thumbs-up.

"Not you too, Sans!"

The woman, boy and Sans chuckled.

"Anyway, I'm Raul! I specialize in nuking the enemy with my skills, pleased to meet you!" he extended his hand.

PoH then widened his eyes and put on a mischievous smirk of knowing what would happen. Then, just as Sans shook Raul's hand in expectation, he gaped in disbelief when he realized that nothing happened.

"Wait…no whoopee cushion trick?"

"well, my whoopee cushion's durability ran out earlier. i used the last of it on you earlier."

"What?! Oh c'mon, that's just not fair!" he knelt with a dejected look.

The woman tilted her head in confusion as Sans sweat dropped.

"Uh…huh. I can't say that I know what you two are talking about. Well, anyway, please just call me Tanya." She smiled warmly.

"nah, don't worry about it. it's nothing, miss tan—"

"Just call me Tanya." She repeated.

"pardon?"

"I said, just. Call me. _**Tanya**_." Her expressions darkened into a twisted smile.

"i… see…"

Sans looked at Raul and PoH questionably, but they merely shook their heads with grim expressions in unison; never bring up something about her age, he got the message.

"Mi—" Z began.

" _ **Yes?**_ "

"* _ **A-Ahem**_ * Tanya… don't scare our guest."

"Oh my, you're right. I'm sorry if I scared you."

"it's fine. gotta need a lot more than that to scare this bag o' bones."

"Bag of bones? Why? But you're so chubby!"

 **[W-Wow, she said it.]** Everybody flinched as everybody's expressions darkened.

"I mean look at this cute healthy cheeks~!"

Tanya began pinching Sans' cheeks while making a series of cutesy voice like an airhead as Sans merely stayed silent, using every ounce of his strength not to tear her apart with his barrage of bone attacks at any moment now as he tried to maintain his smile.

Sans sighed to calm himself down then turned his head toward the other two members of the guild that hadn't spoken yet; a pair of twin girls around thirteen years of age. They both wore identical sets of blue clothing, black pants, and shiny gray armor; this one much less revealing than Tanya's. The two seemed really identical, but through Sans' enhanced sense of vision, he could notice the difference between the two girls in terms of body proportions, though that didn't really tell him their names.

He decided to initiate the conversation since simply staring at them wouldn't really help him to know who they were.

"anyway… what're your names? hope, i'm not making you feel… _**unplea-sans**_."

The two looked at each other before speaking in unison.

"You're jokes are digusting." The two spoke in unison.

The other four members gaped at them in pure shock. Sans merely smiled though.

"ah, not very _**humerus**_ are ya?"

"Stop." One of them spoke again, her body shaking as she tried to control herself.

" _ **tibia**_ honest, i used to have a _**skele-ton**_ worth of _**skele-jokes**_ that'd usually _**skele-stun**_ people cuz' they're _**skele-fun—!**_ _"_

"ENOUGH WITH THE PUNS!" The two girls flipped out.

Sans laughed heartily, "i would, but can you really blame me? i'm a _**punny**_ person, y'know?"

The two groaned loudly as the other chuckled; clearly glad that Sans took the blunt insult rather dismissively.

Raul sighed and answered Sans' question for them.

"Sorry about them, they're just not good with strangers. Anyway, she..." He pointed at the slightly shorter girl with a (seemingly unnoticeable) bigger bosom, "…is Lily and she…" he pointed at the other girl who was taller, "…is Milly."

"ah, i see. so, lily and milly, huh? cute names." he winked at them earning him bashful glares from the two girls.

Noticing this, Raul proceeded to whisper into Sans' ear, "Don't be fooled, they might look like a middle schoolers, but they're actually in their early—!"

Before he could even continue, the two boy felt something whizzed through between their faces. They turned around and saw two knives embedded deeply on the wall.

Sans kept his cool and slowly turned around to see their faces, but he wasn't expecting to see a pair of faces with hateful and angry expression etched on their faces.

"Raul, what were you…" Milly began.

"…going to say?" Lily finished.

The boy flinched and began sweating cold sweat as he laughed awkwardly.

"A-ahahaha, what _**was**_ I going to say r-right? O-OH! Chicken! Yum!"

Staring at Raul who was shivering in fear, Sans then saw the twins turning their attention toward him.

 _ **[…ok, i was going to ask what is wrong with these girls, but for the sake of my life i'll wisely shut my mouth.]**_

"t-this salad is really delicious! wonder who made it?"

He tried to change the subject; it worked, seeing that the twins raised their eyebrows.

"We did." they replied in unison.

"really? well, maybe you should teach me how to make it one day."

They looked at each other and shrugged.

"…Sure, we don't mind."

"thanks. that'd be nice."

Sighing in relief, Sans felt glad that he managed to avert his certain death.

An awkward silence filled the air then Z decided to break the silence.

"So Sans! What's your role in team fights?"

"hm?"

"Yeah, Sans." Raul agreed, "What's your role in team fights? I mean, Z's a spear user, while I use a broadsword as my primary weapon. We act as the main fighters for the guild."

"Both of us are knife users and we're the scouts and assassins of the group." Lily and Milly followed.

"assassins?"

"That's right. Lily and Milly specializes in dealing tons of damage to our enemies, but their HPs are much lower than the rest of us." PoH explained.

"then what are you?"

"Me? Hehe, I'm glad you ask!" He posed dramatically, "I, the great PoH, am the brain of our—!"

"ah, so you're the coward that stays behind and tell others what to do. i get it."

"H-Hey!"

All of us laughed at PoH's expense.

"i'm messing with you, poh." Sans then looked over to Tanya, "so, all that's left is you, tanya."

"What about me?"

"what's your role in team fights?"

"Oh my, you can't tell? I'm the tank, of course!"

"…wat?"

Sans stared at her revealing armors up and down in confusion. It wasn't the fact that she had a very noticeable cleavage, well that too—he meant—but the fact that her armor seemed too revealing to offer the kind of body protection you'd imagine from a tanker truly confused him.

"Sans don't you know anything about female armors in RPGs?" PoH asked him.

"what?"

"The less it covers…" PoH began.

"The more it protects." Z and Raul finished sagely.

"that… " Sans went quiet for a few moment, but then, "blew the mind out of my skull."

"Then rejoice, brother, for you have been enlightened by the light of truth!" PoH extended his hand, "And whenever thou feel lost, remember well the commandment of RPG's female armors. The less it covers?"

"the more it protects."

"Thou have answered wisely, O' new believer. Congratulations and I welcome thee, brother, to our sacred covenant."

"my thanks to thee, o' great priest of rpg, father poh." Sans humbly bow.

The three girls looked at each other and Tanya decided to say the most logical thing to say, "Da fuck?"

* * *

The party went on for hours. Together the seven players played multiple games like 'truth or dare' to liven up the party. By now, everyone had already fallen asleep, except for Sans and PoH.

The two stood outside on the porch, staring at the beautiful queen of the night who was showering this virtual world with her virtual moonlight.

"So, how's the party, Sans? Did you like it?" PoH began.

"well, never really been to parties before. it's kind of my first party so it's the best one i've ever had."

PoH laughed at that.

"First party? Someone that's really fun to be around like you? I mean, you just met them for a few hours today and we were all having so much fun together as if we've been friends for a long time. You must be joking!"

Sans paused for a few moments then looked away as he smiled.

"…heh, maybe i am."

Silence fell between the two players as the cold night breeze blew.

"Sans there's something I have to ask you." PoH began seriously.

"ask away."

"Would you… join our guild?"

Sans fell silent.

"I-I know it's a selfish request, but please…" He then proceeded to kneel on the ground and said, "Please, join our guild and make sure to keep us on the right tracks!"

Silence fell between them. It was then Sans began thinking… did he have any reason to decline? Well, most of the times he merely walked around towns, doing part-time works for the NPCs, offering emotional support, jokes, and advices to those who needed it most as he honed his control over his powers in secret. While he still couldn't summon Gaster Blasters or teleport, he was now strong enough to use his bones attacks effectively for a few good minutes before getting tired. He also learned how to use _**Real Sans**_ ' psychokinesis rather easily. In fact it was much, much easier than learning how to summon his bones out of thin air could ever be; which made him feel really stupid since he questioned himself for not thinking of about learning how to use his psychokinesis ability first before learning how to summon bones, but that's beside the point.

The point was, Sans didn't really have anything much to do. So now the question was: what reason did he have to decline?

He smiled, knowing that he didn't have that many reasons to decline. Taking a deep breath, he answered.

"i refuse."

"…E-Eh?"

It was true that Sans didn't have that many reasons to decline, but there was one thing; one crucial detail that he remembered to be the reason why he declined; his glitch.

"i refuse to join your guild."

"But... but why?" PoH asked looking hurt.

"poh, you're all already on the right tracks. there's nothing else for me to tell you."

"B-But—!"

"besides, you're much older than i am and the leader of your guild; you're supposed to be the 'big brother' here, y'know? not me." He cut him off softly with his trademark smile.

"I… I see…" PoH paused then asked him, "Then, are you going to leave?"

"i will if you want me to."

"Is that so… well I'll miss—" he widened his eyes, "Wait… what?"

"i can't join your guild, poh. i can stay, but…" Sans then continued as he turned to look at the night sky, "listen… i'm not a fighter."

"What do you mean?"

"Let me share you a little secret… I'm afraid, PoH."

"T-That's fine! We'll train together and—"

PoH widened his eyes, but before he could finish, Sans cut him off as he continued speaking.

"PoH, I'm begging you, please… don't ask me why I don't fight. Please."

There were a lot of questions going on PoH's mind, but even though he only met Sans for a day, he knew. He knew that when Sans begged him not to ask why, he _**meant**_ it.

"…So, the reason you won't join is because you worry that you'll be a burden because you can't fight?"

Sans was silent. PoH looked down, then chuckled, but before he knew it, he was laughing out loud in the dead silence of the night. Sans turned around and stared at him questionably.

"Haha, I'm glad!"

"…glad?"

"Yeah! I thought you didn't want to join because you didn't like me or any of us!"

He widened his eyes at his answer; there wasn't a single trace of malicious intent within the words that came out of PoH's mouth, only genuine happiness and relief.

"Alright, how about we come into a compromise? Since you can't fight and don't want to be a burden, how about you work for our guild?"

"work for your… guild?"

"That's right! That way, you don't have to join our guild, but you can still stay with us! It's a win-win situation for both of us!" He proposed enthusiastically.

Sans thought about it for a moment, then he looked at PoH's face that was beaming full of hope. He looked up at the dark starry sky and recalled the first time he met PoH. It was a blurry memory, but he was sure about something; that day, PoH's face was filled with nothing but tears of fear and hopelessness.

And to think that the person he saved tried to reach out this much for someone like him… he felt a sense of irony there, for some reason.

"So? How about it?" PoH asked again, now with a more anxious tone.

Sans sighed and smiled.

"alright… you win."

PoH widened his eyes like he couldn't believe what he just heard, "D-Does… Does that mean?"

"yup. i'm in your care." Sans extended his left hand.

Smiling wider than ever, PoH excitedly grabbed his hand and—

 _ ***A loud farting noise echoed under the moonlight***_

PoH fell silent with an unreadable expression.

"…Sans …you lied to me, didn't you?"

"hm?"

"Didn't you say that you're whoopee-cushion's durability wore off when you used it on me earlier…?"

Sans smiled innocently.

"...are you so sure that it's from a whoopee-cushion?"

PoH widened his eyes and immediately stepped away from him.

"Eww, that is just _**disgusting**_!"  
"hey, don't blame me. it's the cold night air's fault." He shrugged as he smiled.

"Ugh, way to break the moment, Sans!" PoH groaned and started walking back inside.

"heh, c'mon, u mad, bro?"

Sans laughed as PoH went inside to join the others into the land of dreams, leaving Sans standing alone under the moonlit porch. Sans turned to look at his other hand; he was holding a whoopee-cushion.

Then as he let go of the whoopee-cushion, it broke into millions of pixels into nothingness as he looked up and stared at the moon with an empty expression.

"am i really doing the right thing…?" He wondered out loud.

When Sans told PoH that he was afraid, it wasn't the fact that he's probably the weakest player there was on Aincrad that he was afraid of. It's the fact that he was afraid of how others would react when they found out about him.

"…if i joined their guild, they'd see my hp and would find out about my glitches… but then again, do i really have to hide the truth like this?"

He opened up his menu and looked at his stats which were full of glitches; focusing on his hp bar that read the number '1/1'. Then he remembered something: he hid it from Kirito and Klein before, why should this be any different?

Sans didn't like hiding truths like this, but even he knew that he couldn't afford begging for help to everyone he met; they already had enough problems with being trapped in this virtual reality, why should he whine about his glitch when the others were also suffering?

Also, knowing the kind nature of his friends, if they knew about his _**condition,**_ they'd probably focus on how to fix his condition rather than focusing on how to beat the game; he couldn't afford worrying other people for the sake of himself.

He felt the cold night breeze brushing against his skin and due to his enhanced senses, it felt a little like being rubbed with sandpaper. It stung, but he's used to enduring it; although, not used to the pain at all.

Sans chuckled within the silence of the night as he remember something important; he probably won't get out of this death game alive anyway, so why should he spent his times feeling morose about it? Wasn't this why he made his resolve? To make everybody smile so only he would suffer for all of them?

He yawned in fatigue as he kept on watching the starry sky. He smiled and thought that he should enjoy the moment he shared together with his newfound friends rather than think too much about his _**condition.**_

Besides—

"with the way things are right now… i guess, this isn't too bad."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Whew, another chapt, posted. Now, let's see how much did I screw up this time.

*sigh* Anyway, here's a little background about PoH _**before**_ he became the psychopath that he is. Yeah, the five other members of PoH's first guild, _**Final Seekers**_ (Bad name, I know) are OCs, but don't worry cuz' there's a reason that PoH became what he is later on…

…You know what? I'm gonna be honest with you, this story would mostly be a kind of slice of life of Sans' life in SAO so there won't be that many actions here; especially with Sans. A little spoiler for you, but I'm keeping Sans' fight for at least a few more chapters…

Also, note that my OC (Akiyoshi Mizuki) is not the _**Real Sans**_ , so if he's a little OOC compared to the _**Real Sans,**_ well, you get the idea…

One more thing is that I'm going to do lots of time skip just like they do in the anime, so if my story appears too fast-paced then I apologize.

Before I finish, I'd like to answer a question from _**ctstone**_ : so you're wondering what would this AU be called huh? Well, since this isn't really a 'full' crossover, I can't really say. Besides, I can't think of a good name for this AU, lol. _**SworarTale? Undersword? SAOndertale? UnderSAO?**_ The title is probably the best name I got for this AU; It's A Beautiful Virtual Day Outside.

Oh well, anyway, thank you for those who reviewed, faved, and followed, you're the reason I kept on writing despite being really busy IRL.

Welp, without further ado,

See ya next chapt, Capt!

:v /


	5. Heh Trust Issues Much?

… _ **Darkness…**_

… _ **Fear…**_

… _ **Blood…**_

 _ **PAIN**_

Sans woke up after another nightmare, cold sweat covering his body as he was breathing heavily.

"…heh. well, that escalated quickly."

And he was right. It hadn't even reached the fifty words mark yet, but things were already looking pretty angst-y.

Nevertheless, Sans sighed and got out of bed to open up the window of his room, letting the fresh virtual morning air inside.

* * *

 _ **Monday, 15**_ _ **th**_ _ **of May, 2023; Final Seeker's Guild Home on Floor 7**_

* * *

It was another beautiful virtual day outside. The sun was shining warmly, the birds were chirping happily, and the cool morning breezes blew softly every now and then, rustling the leaves and grasses like a beautiful song composed by Virtual Mother Nature herself sung in a perfect harmony.

Virtual… that was a word he'd been using very often now. It was a way for Sans to constantly remind himself of accepting the cruel reality that everyone was trapped in this virtual world. Though, at the same time, he knew he would never say it that way out loud to anyone; it wasn't like saying it would change anything either.

He chuckled to himself and scolded his own mind for already thinking about morbid thoughts first thing in the morning.

"welp, i guess i should make breakfast for the others soon."

With that, he turned himself away from the window and walked out of his room toward the kitchen. The others hadn't wake up yet, so he proceeded to make breakfast.

As he began cooking, he began to reminisce on the events that had occurred. It had been three months since he joined the Final Seekers… well, not exactly join, but you get the idea. During that time, Sans worked more or less as the butler of the guild. PoH and the rest of the guild would go out on quests to level-up while Sans stayed at the guild's home doing the menial tasks like cleaning, cooking, or doing the laundries.

It was a funny thought for him. Half a year ago, he was nothing more than an abused son of an alcoholic mother. Five to four months ago, he became some kind of a wise freelance preacher and gotten powers with the costly price. Then, three months ago, he found friends and had been reduced to working as no more than a maid ever since.

And now the question remained: did he hate it? Well... the answer depends. For example, never once did he hate any second he spent in his life to help the small guild. In fact, he loved his life now; it was an easy life… but that was exactly why he also hated it.

While everyone was out there fighting, all that he could do was stay back and cook and clean and just do… _**nothing.**_ What was more is the fact that he possessed a power that no one would ever have, yet he still couldn't use properly. With the way he was now, all that he would do if he forced himself to fight was adding another number to the already long list of casualties.

He always told himself that he needed the clearers to advance to the next floors, that his power would be very efficient to fight bosses the higher their levels were, but no matter how much excuses he tried to make, another question rose.

…What would he say to those that died or lost their loved ones when he had powers beyond what most were capable of? He could make up excuses like, "I wasn't strong enough" or, "It's Kayaba Akihiko's fault!" or perhaps, "They brought this upon themselves for not being smart and careful," …but then would he really be okay with that? Making up excuses about being afraid where thousands were putting their lives on the line to free the others and get out of this game?

Sure, being alive with 1 HP meant that death was literally just one moment away from him from every single second of his life, but what was the difference? After all, the clearers too could die faster than they could blink at any moment in their lives. Falling into traps, killed by monsters, or perhaps occasional PKs…

…And that's not mentioning what would happen if Kayaba Akihiko, the self-proclaimed God of Aincrad, knew that someone within the world that he created was a bug. What would he do then? Would he still be safe? Would he still be able to see the light of another day?

… _ **Or would the mad scientist be out for his blood and erased him from existence?**_

Sans sighed, thinking that maybe that was enough gloomy thoughts for now. He chuckled at the thought that you're probably bored reading these same gloomy thoughts over and over and over again.

Anyway, going back to the present, a few minutes after cooking, the mouthwatering scent started to fill the air. Sans focused on the food that was on his frying pan with his enhanced hearing and sense of smell then proceeded to flip or turn it around right at the perfect moments.

"Mm, what a delicious smell!"

"good morning, tanya." Sans smiled.

"Good morning, Sans. Are you done cooking yet? Because I can't wait to dig in!"

"heh. be patient will ya? there'll be enough for everyone."

Then other voices entered from the hallway.

"Sans' cooking again? Alright!"

"You can say that again, Z."

Sans smiled to toward the two newcomers and greeted them.

"i see you've caught your _**z**_ -s"

Z groaned at the pun, " _ **Don't**_."

"heh, fine." Sans then turned, "and morning to you too, raul."

"Hey, good morning, Sans."

Sans focused on cooking the breakfast once again; it was nearly finished. Raul was about to ask what Sans was cooking until a certain _**someone**_ entered the room.

"Uuuuugh… must… resist… waking… up…!"

"hm? poh? awake al… ready…?"

Sans and the others saw how PoH was crawling on the floor with an incredibly tired look as if he was a legless zombie that was slowly, and reluctantly, pulling himself toward his victim.

"…Big bro, what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to resist this cursed delicious smell that is trying to wake me up _**early**_." PoH replied, hissing the last word in pure disgust.

"Even after three months, I still think that it must be the end of the world that PoH could actually wake up early." Tanya commented.

"Believe me when I say that I still can't believe this too." PoH sighed.

Everyone shared a laugh together, but Sans strangely enough didn't laugh. He tuned out the world around him as he kept staring at PoH in silence.

It happened a few times before too. Every time he sees PoH, there was this small nagging feeling as if he had met him before; even before they were all trapped in this death game. This feeling… it was as if something was telling himself to remember; as if it was something important. His mind kept trying as hard as it could to remember, but alas, he couldn't remember a thing.

Meh, whatever… It was probably nothing too important anyway; if it was then he'd remember it now, wouldn't he?

Anyway, Sans realized that pancake was ready, so he served them all on the plates. Putting on an equivalent of maple syrup, which (for your information) was called something else in Aincrad, to the pancakes, he nodded and spoke up.

"breakfast's ready."

"Ooh! Hurry up and bring it over here, Sans!"

"Yeah, I can't wait to dig in!"

"Wait, Sans, what _**did**_ you cook?"

Sans served the plates on the table and everyone's mouth was agape.

"just pancakes. why?"

Silence fell between the rest of the guild's member.

"uhh… guys?"

"Pancakes…" Tanya muttered.

"huh? oh, yeah, that's right, tanya. it's pancakes."

"…Did he just say… _**Pancakes**_?" Raul muttered louder.

"Pancakes…" Z followed.

Sans scratched his head, "are you guys ok—?"

But before he could even finish, PoH suddenly shouted as everyone followed suit.

"PANCAAAAAAAAAAAAKES! SANS' PANCAAAAAAAAAKES!"

Like mindless, primitive beasts, they began to devour the pancakes on their plates using their bare hands; savoring each bite as they tear on the soft and heavenly breakfast without mercy. Sans could only sweat drop at what was happening.

"i-i could always make more, so can you—"

" _ **More…?**_ "

Sans flinched as their attentions were fixated on him. Their eyes were full of madness, bloodlust, and most of all _**hunger.**_

"…a-ah, right, we have no more eggs! what a s-shame right! heh…"

They looked at each other in confusion and shrugged… before going back into their savage modes and began to devour their pancakes again. Sans learnt an incredible lesson: _**Never underestimate the power of pancakes.**_

* * *

 _ **One savage breakfast later...**_

* * *

"Haaah, now _**that's**_ what I call breakfast!" Raul patted his stomach.

"As expected of Sans' cooking, especially his pancakes! Isn't that right, big brother?"

"…"

"Uhh… big brother?"

"Zzz…"

"Ah, he fell asleep again…"

The rest sweat dropped at PoH's antics as Z sighed. Sans then tilted his head and asked,

"say, what's so good about my cooking anyway? doesn't it taste the same like other food?"

"What? You've been cooking for the last three months and you have never realized how good your cooking is?!" Raul replied in disbelief.

"…uh, yea?"

"Sans, you're so good at cooking and cleaning that I would have fall head over heels for you if you were a girl!"

"…excuse me?"

"Yeah! If you were any older, I would have asked you to be my wife!" Tanya cooed.

"aren't you the one that's supposed to be the wife?" Sans deadpanned.

"Hahaha, no way! Tanya's so bad at cooking that even NPCs die for eating it and that's when they're _**inside**_ the town's safe zone! No wonder she's not married—!"

Faster than anyone could blink, Tanya grabbed Raul's face and threw him out of the window with her immense strength. Combined with the ungodly aura of rage and killing intent that she had, she looked a lot like a demon.

Everyone fell silent with grimace on their faces.

"Oh my, what is Raul doing? He's so funny jumping out of the window like that before he could even finish his joke, right? _**Right**_ **?"** She spoke with a disturbing smile and happy tone full of meanings.

"R-Right." The rest of the present guild member wisely replied in unison.

Another awkward silence fell and Tanya then told them that she was going to take a bath, everyone sighed in relief.

"B-Big brother, Is… is Raul…?"

"…I'm… I'm sorry, Z…"

"B-but it can't be!"

"a moment of silence for our brave fallen friend. we will never forget you, raul…"

…

…

…

"I'm not dead yet, oi!"

Everyone laughed at Raul's retort as he began to rant about Tanya's denial to the truth. Meanwhile, Sans stared patiently at the hallway as if he was waiting for something to happen.

PoH noticed this and asked,

"Sans, is something wrong?"

"hm? no, it's nothing… say don't you guys have to go somewhere today?"

"Oh, right! We're supposed to meet with the other guild at the 20th floor on 9 o'clock!" Z remembered.

"What time is it anyway?" Raul asked

"it's…" Sans looked toward the clock on the wall, "08:50."

"…Wat." the three players froze.

"it's ten to nine."

"Oh… shit." PoH began slowly, but then the three of them shouted in unison.

" _ **HOLY SHIT!**_ "

"Quick! Get ready!"

"But, big brother, we haven't taken any bath yet!"

"Z, you fool! Forget about baths! It's virtual reality! The smell isn't real!"

"Yeah, whatever, he said!" Raul agreed.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

The three of them ran off into their respective rooms frantically to get ready; Sans merely sighed and smiled at their antics. However, the trademark smile on Sans face was soon replaced with an emotionless look as wondered about something that he had noticed since a few minutes ago. Where were Lily and Milly?

It had been three months and Sans had fit in rather well with the Final Seekers. Jokes were spoken, laughs were shared and secrets were told among the members of the Final Seekers… well, except for the secrets about his past or his glitch of course, but that's beside the point. Yet, no matter how much he tried, there were a certain twins that just wouldn't open up to him.

Most of the time, he'd probably just shrug it off with the excuse, 'It's not like I expect _**everyone**_ to like me,' and he knew that some people just wouldn't get along, however there was something within their eyes and expressions that kept bothering him every time he saw them.

At first he thought that it was hate as in hating his annoying sense of humor, but overtime he'd notice that their eyes weren't lying; they genuinely hated him. Hate might be too strong for a word to describe it, _**anger**_ would probably a better word to describe it _ **.**_

Every time they look at him, there was a silent sadness and fury within those eyes of theirs… and it wasn't about his annoying, funny, or arguably lazy nature, it was as if they were angry at him for _**something**_.

He couldn't recall if he had ever met them before and when he asked, the other members didn't know too much about them just as much as Sans did. Besides, he wasn't that desperate and didn't feel like pressing them for an answer, so he did the only logical thing to do: give up.

Heh, it had become a bad habit now, hadn't it? Well, whatever. Maybe they were just that cautious toward him since he was 'the new guy,' maybe they weren't. All that he could do was be patient and keep trying to get them to up to him with hope that one day they would come to trust him as much as he trusted the others.

Because, after all, words like _**hope**_ and _**trust**_ were words that Sans had never really used since a long time ago.

Sighing his bad thoughts away, he decided that he should bring Lily and Milly their breakfast since they didn't come to eat together… again. He knocked on the door of their room.

"lily? milly? awake yet?"

There was no answer, but with Sans' enhanced hearing, he knew they were standing right behind the door. He smiled and pretended not to notice.

"i'm putting your breakfast right in front of your door. be sure to eat up before u go, k?"

With that he walked away to wait at the living room.

"So, are you sure you're going to be alright, Sans?"

"of course i'll be _**all-right**_ when you _**all-left**_." He snorted at his bad pun, "besides, you're asking me that now after all these months, poh?"

"I know, but it's just that I can't help but worry about you staying here alone…"

"you worrying about me? funny, coz' _**i'm**_ worried about _**you**_. after all, you're the ones out there fighting."

"…Touche." PoH paused, "Alright, then. I guess we'll get going."

The guild bid their goodbyes as Sans gave them his trademark smile. Holding up their teleportation crystals, they blew up into millions of pixels as they teleported to where they were supposed to meet with the other guilds.

As soon as they were gone, Sans' smile disappears as he reentered the guild's home.

"oh well… time to start cleaning."

Sans lifted his left hand and used his telekinetic abilities to clean the house. Garbage were enveloped in bluish aura as they were lifted off the ground as they flew towards the trashcan; immediately exploding into millions of pixels that disappeared into nothingness. Tables, chairs, pillows, beds, with his telekinesis, it was only a matter of minutes for him to clean the entire place.

SAO had an automated system to clean houses, cooking, and etc. but, unlike the _**original,**_ Sans wasn't lazy and preferred to do things manually; he pretended to be lazy most of the time. The truth was he loved doing something instead of nothing. After all what else could he do in this world? Here's a hint: nothing really. There wasn't much to do for someone with a single health and attack point that didn't involve the possibility of him getting himself killed in the process.

Sure, he gave up trying to fight, but it wouldn't hurt to try and survive right? Just because he gave up, that didn't mean he wasn't afraid of death. After all, he survived for this long when he thought that he'd die on the first floor, so who was to say that he wouldn't survive long enough to escape this death game?

Besides, while it might not seem important, cleaning the house using his telekinesis actually helped him in training his focus, mental stamina, and control in using the ability. Having to control and command multiple objects around you at the same time could really be taxing on one's mental stamina.

After cleaning the kitchen, dining room, and living room, he proceeded to clean the others' room. He chuckled at how messy the rooms of the boys were and how clean the rooms of the girls were; typical. However, the moment he stepped into Lily's and Milly's room, he smiled as he noticed the empty plate of the breakfast he brought them earlier.

What if the twins hated him, but could never hate his cooking? Well, one thing for sure, he'd find it extremely _**humerus.**_ Jokes aside, maybe all he needed was a little more time for them to open up.

Knowing this, Sans sighed as he looked up to the beautiful virtual sky outside, wishing that things could stay like this forever.

* * *

 _ **Later that evening…**_

* * *

"Everyone, for the success of our guild in the 20th floor's dungeon, cheers!"

"Cheers!"

PoH and the rest had arrived a few minutes ago. Sans had prepared the group a feast earlier after PoH messaged him that they were returning in a few hours and the moment they stepped into the guild home, they were bombarded with the mouthwatering scent of Sans' cooking.

And so now everyone was in the dining room, celebrating their success in the dungeon as Sans stayed a few feet away, watching them from the corner with a smile on his face knowing that everyone was happy and safe.

"Yo, Sans, what are you doing?"

"hm? 'sup, raul?"

"Come here and celebrate with us, Sans!"

"nah. thanks, but ur the ones that fought so just enjoy the feast, z."

"Just shut up and join us, you chubby bag o' bones!"

The others laughed at Tanya's joke as Sans sighed and smiled. However his smile lessened when he realized that the only ones that didn't laugh were the twins; well, he noticed that they were always like that, but they seemed quieter than they used to be.

For now, he shrugged it off and sat on the only seat available which was, speak of the devil, right beside one of twins; Milly. He noticed she shifted away uncomfortably, before keeping her cool, but didn't say a thing nor let the smile of his face disappear.

"Hey, Sans, how did you get so good at cooking?" PoH asked.

"well, let's just say… i've put a lot of _**backbone**_ into it."

Except for the twins, the rest chuckled at his pun.

"so, was it fun at the dungeon? you guys seems really happy."

"Of course we are! After all, we found four secret rooms in the dungeon and got ourselves a _**lot**_ of Cor and awesome equipments!" Z replied.

"secret rooms?"

"Yeah, they're all scattered and hidden throughout the dungeon. Fortunately, Lady Luck seemed to be smiling upon us all today because we didn't only find one or two secret rooms, we found _**four!**_ _**Four!**_ Can you believe that?"

Sans chuckled at PoH's excitement, but then replied nonchalantly, "k."

"'K'… We've spent so much time trying to find all those secret rooms and when we got the miracle to find four within a single day, all we got from you is a single 'K'?!" PoH spoke with a tone of disbelief. "Like, can't you at least pretend that it's awesome?"

Sans was having a déjà vu, but he smiled again and said,

"lol, no."

Everybody laughed at PoH's expense, but then Tanya tried to calm him down.

"Alright, alright, calm down, Winnie. I think the reason why Sans' not that excited is because he never found a secret room before."

"Oh, that makes sense!" Z commented.

Raul then clapped his hand as he got an idea. An idea that made Sans froze as it shocked him down to his very core, not expecting him to say anything as such as this.

"I know! How about if we bring Sans with us tomorrow for another treasure hunt on floor 21?"

"Hey, that's a pretty good idea! I mean, we've never seen you fight!" Z followed.

The twins too got interested in the conversation and glanced Sans' way to see how he would react. They noticed how PoH had gotten silent as Sans froze with that same façade he always put on his face.

Raul, Z and Tanya smiled, expecting their leader to bounce in joy at the great idea so the gang could be together. However, the smiles disappeared from their faces the moment PoH gave them a very unexpected reply.

"No." PoH suddenly answered in a serious tone.

Truly, no one expected the usually happy-go-lucky leader to be so serious in moments like these. They were merely asking Sans to come with them to have fun, why would he say no?

"Sans is already busy enough to handle the house chores and—"

"I knew it…" Lily cut him off.

"There's something fishy about Sans that you're not telling us." Milly continued.

"What are you two saying…?" PoH maintained a poker face.

"It has been months and not once did you ever ask him to come with us to the dungeons…"

"And it's also no longer a secret that while Sans joined our guild, yet his name is never on the list of our guild members."

"What are you two saying?" he repeated his question.

" **We can't trust him!** " they half-shouted in unison.

Z, Raul, and Tanya were silent as they let the information they never noticed sink in.

"There… there must be a reason, right? I don't really understand, but if Sans doesn't want to fight, then isn't it his right to do so?"

"Z's right, you two. Even if he didn't fight with us, he helped us all manage our home, fed us good foods, made us laugh, so I don't see the reason why we shouldn't trust him."

"He has become a part of us, so what if his name's not on the guild members list or our friend's list? It's just another one of SAO's systems. We don't need it just to be friends with someone." Tanya followed.

Sans watched as the argument went on. The twins were telling them their suspicions as the three were trying to defend him while questioning themselves about who Sans really was. Even if he was the leader, PoH knew that it wouldn't be fair to tell both Lily and Milly to suck it up and just listen to the decisions he made and so he just stayed silent, looking down sadly as the bickering didn't stop.

He hated it. He absolutely hated it. Why did they have to fight over someone unimportant like him? Was he really worth that much in their eyes?

A part of him was happy that they would defend him so much and treat him like their own family, but another part of him felt guilty toward the twins, knowing full well that he had a lot of secrets that he never told the so-called people he trusted.

…Maybe they're right. Maybe he didn't have to suffer alone. Maybe all he needed was to tell everyone just how afraid he was living the life where he had to mask his own pain and suffering by pretending to be apathetic and always smiling just to keep his own sanity from falling into the pit of despair. Maybe he didn't have to act or try to be like Sans.

 _ **Maybe it was time to put this stupid façade to an end.**_

After all, Sans wasn't the _**Sans**_ he used to admire; he was a boy called Akiyoshi Mizuki who, like everyone else, became a victim of the SAO Incident.

… _ **Or at least that's what he wanted to believe.**_

Yes, that was it. Maybe Sans wasn't like the real _**Sans.**_ Maybe he should have told everyone and ask for help, but the truth was, even if Sans had the choice, he still wouldn't tell anyone about his condition, no matter how much he trusted them. The day he made his resolve, the moment he gave up… a part of him died; a part that one might have been called self-pity.

Everyone already had their own problems; he too had his own problems and didn't need anyone to worry about him. As long as those who still had a reason to live could get out of this cursed world, he couldn't care less. He never really had a huge motivation, but Sans, just like any other logical creatures, wanted to survive; thus the reason he keep trying to survive despite the _**incredibly**_ slim chances to live given his circumstances.

… However, at the same time, he knew that they'd soon learn the truth eventually, even if he didn't tell them. And even if they would hate him for _**what**_ he was, it would probably for the best. Besides, he'd hate to see such a great and happy guild like the _**Final Seekers**_ broke apart just because of his own selfish desire to keep his own secrets to himself... but still...

Sans sighed; that was enough dark thinking for now. He had to put this to an end.

"sure, why not…" Sans suddenly cut them off, getting their attention. He winked his right eye and gave them his trademark smile, "i'll go."

PoH widened his eyes and muttered in shock.

"S-Sans, what are you say—?"

Sans threw him a knowing look; he immediately understood that Sans didn't want the argument to continue. Swallowing down his fear, PoH put on a façade and spoke happily.

"T-That's great! Well, there you have it! Let's stop this stupid debate and just be friends, shall we?"

An awkward silence fell between them all. PoH sighed and proceeded to sit down, but—

 _ ***A loud farting noise echoed***_

PoH put on a poker face as everyone's attention was fixed on their leader. A few moments later however, everyone burst into a fit of laughter as PoH expressed his annoyance.

"whoops, watch where you sit. sometimes weirdos put whoopee cushions on the seats."

"Are you _**kidding**_ me?! **SAAANS**!"

He chased after him and was about to punch him, but Sans dodged his attack. PoH was a little surprised at his sudden show of speed and he merely shrugged his shoulder.

"what? you think i'm just gonna stand there and take it?"

"Rrrraaaaaaagh!"

PoH fell for Sans' taunt and suddenly lunged at the chubby boy, only for Sans to sidestep his attack causing him to crash into the wall head first, knocking him out cold as everyone laughed even more.

Sans caught the twins trying to hold back their laughs and chuckled. He guessed they didn't hate his sense of humor after all. The moment the laughter died down everyone's attention turned on the twins who were trying as hard as they could not to laugh and failing horribly.

"So, is something funny?" Raul teased.

Their faces reddened a bit and they shouted in unison.

"W-Whatever!"

With that they walked away into their rooms as the others chuckled.

"anyway, it's late. i'd be best for us to go to sleep soon."

"Yeah, you're right… well, goodnight you three. I'm off to bed."

"Goodnight, Tanya." Raul replied then turning toward the downed PoH, "So… what should we do with this guy?"

Z sighed. "Whatever, let's just get this over with."

The two merely watched as Z tried to lift his big brother's body, but then stared at them. "Are you two going to help me or what?"

"what do you want me to do?"

"Grab his other arm, duh!"

"is it an _**arm-mergency**_?"

"Sans!"

"just kidding, z."

Raul laughed, "Alright, alright, I'll do it."

"Goodnight, Sans." The two spoke in unison.

"yeah, g'night u two." He waved his left hand.

He stood there alone after the two left the room. Turning his head to the window, he saw the beautiful moonlight shining through.

Sans then turned around and walked toward the door.

* * *

Sans stepped out of the house to the porch to get some fresh air. He lied on the ground and stared into the starry moonlit sky in silence, wondering if what he was doing was the right thing as he lost track of time as he stayed silent in deep thoughts.

In fact, it seemed like he always wondered whether everything he did was right or not. Unfortunately, he knew that the questions he had would probably never have a definite answer. Giving up on thinking about it might be for the best after all.

Heh, there it is again, _**the bad habit**_ of giving up.

"I knew you'd be here…" A voice came from behind him.

Sans didn't need to turn around to know who it was.

"congrats. you guessed right, poh."

"Why did you agree, Sans? You know you didn't have to!"

Sans chuckled, much to PoH's confusion.

"Why are you laughing? I'm being serious—!"

"it's just funny how you're always worried about me as if…" he trailed off and thought, **[as if you are trying to redeem yourself from something...?]**

"As if what, Sans?"

PoH snapped Sans out of his thoughts and he shook his head as he shrugged.

"nothing. i'm just kidding." He paused and continued, "seriously tho, don't worry about me."

"Don't worry? But you're my friend! I can't just let you get out there, knowing that you could get killed at any given moment!"

"…and?"

"Are you seriously playing dumb with me?"

"PoH," Sans began seriously, "I told you, didn't I? Just because I have a single health point, that doesn't mean that I can't take care of myself."

"B-But—!"

He cut him off with a chuckle, "heh, you always were such a panicky, scaredy-cat. like the time when i told you _**not**_ to be surprised if you see my stats in your friends list." He looked up at the stars again as he recalled that particular memory.

PoH wanted to protest, but figured that it was no use; he knew that once Sans made up his mind, he'd damn well make sure he achieve his goals. With that in mind, PoH gave up and sighed as he smiled at the chubby self-proclaimed skeleton.

"You can't blame me. Of course I was really worried, it wasn't every day you meet someone who turns out not only is still a level 1, but also only have 1 health, attack, and defense point… I don't know how I would live in such a situation."

"well… just be happy that you _**don't**_ know how it feels, k?"

PoH calmed himself down, knowing that Sans was aware of what he was doing. PoH didn't say anything for a few moments until he too caught himself stargazing into the beautiful virtual night sky, recalling an old memory.

"…I'm sorry that Lily and Milly are such stubborn twins. They were always like that even before SAO."

"before sao?"

"Yes, all of us Final Seekers met for the first time in an RPG Forum. We played a lot of MMORPG games together until eventually we're all here."

"so… they're always that suspicious?"

He chuckled.

"Heh, yes, they are; unfortunately."

"well..." Sans paused, "it's not that bad though. being cautious is nice too."

"That still didn't give them the right to say all those things to you without knowing anything about you. That's why I'm apologizing in their stead."

Sans chuckled once again.

"well, sorry, but i'm not gonna accept their apology; not if it comes from you. besides, i told you, it's fine. as long as you guys don't have any problems, then things are fine the way they are; i'm not expecting them to apologize and i don't hate them or anything either."

PoH went silent to think about something and then spoke again, "If… If that's how you want it to be… then maybe I can help you."

"hm? what do you mean?"

PoH opened his mouth to say something, but stopped himself from saying anything. He shook his head and threw Sans a little smirk.

"…Nothing, I'm just kidding." PoH stuck out his tongue out.

Sans raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

"jk… huh? fine."

PoH was about to say something else again, but Sans cut him off when he saw something over the horizon.

"ah, look. there it is."

It was a beautiful view of sunrise. They both watched how the virtual sun slowly rose up into the sky illuminating the darkness that once consumed the skies above. The beautiful phenomenon took their breaths away as Sans stood up.

"wow, i can't believe you kept me up all night."

"Huh? Hey, we've only been talking for half an hour and it's still six o'clock!"

"then i guess it's time for me to _**rise and shine**_ huh?"

PoH chuckled, "I'll be waiting for that delicious breakfast of yours!"

Sans went inside with a smile on his face.

* * *

The moment Sans closed the door, the smile on his face immediately lessened. He didn't move nor say anything for a few minutes, until suddenly he smiled again and called out.

"i know you're there, milly."

A silent pause filled the room, but a few moments later, Sans' sharp hearing heard a sigh and a figure revealed herself to him.

"…How did you know it was me?"

"you mean, how did i know you were behind the couch—?"

Milly gritted her teeth and cut him off, "How can you be so sure that I'm not Lily?"

"well, you're not denying it, so i guess i'm not wrong, right? hehe…" Sans tried to crack a joke only to be met with the ever-suspicious glare from the girl; she was not amused.

Sans sighed and shrugged, "...eh, a lucky guess."

Her eye twitched, "You always knew which one of us was which when the others can't even tell us apart, don't give me a half-assed excuse like 'it's a lucky guess'!"

Sans merely smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

"maybe i'm just that lucky?"

"You—!"

"would you like some pancakes for breakfast again? i know you like it more than anything else i've cooked." Sans cut her off, trying to change the subject as he walked passed her towards the kitchen.

Milly was about to voice her annoyance of how Sans kept trying to dodge the subject. However, she remembered that they were going to go to the dungeons today and decided that there was no use in trying to push him to talk.

She would find out about him soon enough.

Milly sighed, "Fine." She looked away, trying to calm herself down, "And make that two…"

Sans' grin widened, "two pancakes and french toasts are coming right up."

"Wait, 'French toasts'?" She suddenly asked, clearly confounded.

Sans stopped and turned around with a look of confusion of his own,

"oh you didn't know? lily prefers french toasts over pancakes… i mean, you're her twin sister so of course you knew, right?"

She didn't.

Milly kept her mouth shut as Sans turned around and disappeared into the kitchen. A single question echoed in the back of her head.

 **[Just who** _are_ **you, Sans?]**

* * *

Two hours later, everyone had eaten their breakfasts and geared up. The sun was shining brightly high on the sky as they all stood outside of their home and PoH spoke up.

"Is everybody, ready?"

Everyone went quiet for a few moments to recheck their weapons and equipments.

"I'm all set." Tanya answered.

Raul was the next to answer. "So am I."

"no probs here."

The twins merely nodded and Z was the last to reply.

"Yea, we're all ready, big bro."

"Well then… shall we?"

Holding out their teleport crystals, the Final Seekers broke into millions of pixels one by one, teleporting to the 21st floor. Sans mentally prepared himself and held out a teleportation crystal that PoH gave him.

As he felt himself getting lighter as his body shattered into tiny pieces, he braced himself for what the future had in store for him.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

So hey! Thanx for your supports guys and I'm sorry that I can't update as fast as I could. I'd like to say that I'm having my high school's finals next Monday so I won't be updating for a while, but… that'd just be a poor excuse for my laziness now, wouldn't it?

Not gonna lie to you, I already have ideas in mind for the story, but it seems that this writer's block keeps preventing me from writing down those ideas… heh, alas, another excuse.

Oh well, forget it. Still, again, thanx for all of the supports and sorry for the delays! I hope you'll stick around cuz' the story is still young! There'll be more action! More drama! More _**BLOODSHED!**_ And I totally did _**not**_ steal this catchphrase from Mettaton! **(totally did, lol)**

OH! Almost forgot! _**I'm writing a special "Q &A w/ the Characters!**" **chapter**_ soon, so... get those questions over here and ask away! It can be anything! A joke, a dare, a comment, an act or whatever as long as it involves either Sans or any of the SAO casts! Heck, you can even ask things that is OUTSIDE of this story's universe, lol! (Just keep in mind that this Sans isn't _**actually**_ Sans) Go ahead and be crazy with the questions lol, me and the casts will answer ANYTHING that you'll ask! **(Everyone gets a maximum of 3 questions each and can be asked through the review section and/or via PM)**

So yeah, anyway, tell me what you think about the chapter and don't forget to ask those questions if you have 'em!

Without further ado, see ya next chapt, Capt!

:v /


	6. Guilts and Doubts

_**Tuesday, 16**_ _ **th**_ _ **of May, 2023; A Town Near The Dungeon on the 21**_ _ **st**_ _ **Floor**_

* * *

Lights blinded his vision, but a few seconds later Sans could see again. He had arrived in an unfamiliar town square that was bustling with life, however that wasn't what caught his attention.

Sans stood motionless as he tried to remember the feeling of teleportation; the feeling of how your body felt strangely lighter and how it felt like when your body shattered into millions of pixels before getting stitched back together in an instant. Sure, he had teleported before (how did you think he came to the other floors without having to go through the dungeons and possibly getting himself killed?) but it had been a long time since he did; around three months.

Well, it wasn't like he was adventurous. He had a guild home to take care of and his _**situation**_ to deal with, so he never really went anywhere besides the towns on the 7th floor ever since he moved in with the Final Seekers.

… _ **Or was that just a poor excuse for being a shut-in?**_

Heh, probably not; emphasize on probably.

"Oooooi, Sans! Have you finished daydreaming yet?" PoH snapped him out of his thoughts.

Sans sighed. Oh well, he could think of learning on how to teleport again some other time; he already had so much to deal with today.

"heh, yea, sorry 'bout that. it happens."

"Yes, I noticed it..." PoH replied. "Are you sure you want to come? It's not too late to go back."

"nah, i told you i'm fine. 'sides, it'd do me well to get out of floor 7 every once in a while." Sans shook his head. "welp, lead the way."

"Alright… let's go."

As the group of seven was walking down the street toward the dungeon, Raul asked.

"So, Sans, why are you deciding to come now? Why didn't you join us to the dungeon much, much earlier?"

Sans fell silent for a few moment as he observed him closely. According to his facial muscles, body language, and eye movements, he determined that he was indeed asking the question out of pure curiosity and not a single trace of malice; just like how curious he was yesterday.

PoH was about to tell him to keep his mouth shut, but Sans calmly answered his question.

"i'll be honest with you, i'm pretty bad in fighting with swords… or spears. or maces. or rapiers. well, you get the point."

"Wait, that's it? _**That's**_ the reason you never fought?" Raul frowned in disbelief.

He chuckled as he looked sideways nonchalantly, "it's also partially because i'm afraid, but… heh, it sounds pretty dumb when you think about it huh?"

Raul went quiet when he heard Sans said that he was afraid. So was that the real reason he never fought? He thought to himself.

"O-Oh, I… see…"

Tanya noticed the sudden gloomy change on Raul's expression and tried to ask a question that might lift everyone's mood up.

"Anyway, you said that it's been a while since you went to the other floors, since when exactly?"

"hm… around three months ago?"

"Three months… wait, isn't that the time when you joined us?"

"yup."

"Wait, you haven't gone anywhere since that day?"  
"…uh, yea, why?"

"I didn't know you were such a shut-in! No wonder you're such a chubby cutie pie~!" She pinches on his cheek as she, intentionally or unintentionally, insulted him.

But, since he and everyone had gotten used to it, they all laughed; unfortunately, the twins remained indifferent.

The walk to the dungeon was a little longer than expected and during that time everyone asked Sans a lot of unimportant questions like what were his hobbies, did he have a girlfriend, and etc. There was a time when the questions got really personal like when they asked about his life or family, but being mentally prepared, he dodged those questions with half-assed nonchalant answers like, "eh, it was pretty normal life/family. nothing worth mentioning."

Lily and Milly noticed these attempts to dodge questions more than anyone though.

Eventually they arrived at the entrance to the dungeon and PoH spoke in a serious and analytical tone that Sans rarely heard.

"Alright, the dungeon is right in front of us and before we enter let's discuss about our positions for today." He continued, "Lily, Milly, you two are, as usual, our scouts. Your job is to scout the way and regroup if the way ahead of us splits into multiple routes or filled with monsters. I know that you two would be capable enough to defeat the monsters, but this time I'd like you two not to engage if there are any monsters ahead because we're not doing a full party today."

The twins and the others, except for Sans, were a little surprised.

"What? Not doing a full party? Then what _**are**_ we going to do?" Milly asked, frowning in confusion.

PoH turned toward Sans who nodded and took a deep breath before answering Milly's question.

"Sans has a very… low level."

Everybody went quiet in confusion.

"Low? Just how low are we talking about here?" Raul asked. "What does Sans being a 'low-level' have to do with splitting our—?"

" **Shut up!** " PoH suddenly cut him off, putting on a rare cold and serious face. He realized what he did and saw the shocked faces of his guild's members. "I-I'm sorry… I know this probably doesn't make sense to you, but please just… listen to me."

Raul was still taken aback by PoH's sudden reaction, but sighed and replied, "…Alright. Go on."

PoH nodded and kept his composure, "As I was saying, I need each and every one of you to pay attention to what I'm going to tell you."

A silence full of tension filled the air around them.

"Look, Sans has an incredibly low level… and before you ask again how low it is, then let's just say that a few hits from the monsters inside the dungeon would instantly kill him off."

 _ **heh, 'a few hits' is a major overstatement, tho.**_ Sans smiled as he always does.

Raul and the rest of the group widened their eyes at the information as PoH continued.

"Therefore, our top priority today is protecting and letting Sans level up by leeching off EXPs from us, which is why we need to split into smaller parties. The smaller the number, the bigger the EXPs are divided among the party members, hence why I'm going to put Sans, Milly and Lily into one party, while the rest of us form another party."

Lily then protested, "Wait, why do _**we**_ have to be in a party with _**him**_? We can't be his babysitter all the time—!"

" _ **One**_ , it's because you guys deals the most damage thus you two are more capable on last-hitting the monsters to gain the EXPs, _**two**_ : Even if we split into two parties, we won't be too far off from each other so you're not going to be his only 'babysitter _ **'**_ , and lastly, _**three:**_ …" PoH paused then frowned at them as he began speaking in a cold monotonous tone, "I've had _**enough**_ of your complaints. _**You**_ were the ones that complained about him never fighting in the dungeons in the first place and now that he's finally here to fight, _**why**_ are you _**still**_ complaining?"

Milly and Lily flinched, not daring to say another word.

"…As you wish, Guild Leader."

"Is there anything else we need to know?" Milly asked her leader in an annoyed tone.

"Only one last thing, the reason why I want you to come back if you see any monster is so that we can fight together and the rest of us will tank the damage as we reduce their HP for you to deliver the killing blow. This way, you can avoid needless loss of health or excessive use of health potions, so you can grind EXPs more effectively and efficiently."

"…I see."

Silence fell between the seven players, but then PoH decided that it was time.

"So, does anyone else have any other question? No? Then stick to the plan and let's make sure no one dies today, understand?"  
"Yes, sir!" Everyone replied in unison, except for Sans.

"Alright, then…"

And with that, he readied his sword with a determined look.

"… **It's show time."**

* * *

The conversation wasn't so bad. With his enhanced hearings, not even standing a few meters away from them could prevent him from overhearing their conversation.

He pretended not to hear anything and just let them solve their conflict, but then something suddenly caught his attention. He overheard PoH last words, before he readied his sword to lead the guild into the dungeon.

It was only a spur of a moment, but in that very moment, Sans felt a sudden shock. It was that same strange feeling again that kept nagging on the back of his mind that was telling him that something was _**very**_ familiar. "It's show time"…

… _ **Where had he heard that phrase before?**_

"Hey…"

"…"

"Hey."

"…"

"Hey, smiley trash bag! Are you going to join the party or what?"

Milly snapped him out of his thoughts with an incredibly annoyed tone. Sans then realized that there was a floating chat box right in front of him, which reads, 'Accept party invitation? YES/NO'

However, Sans didn't press the button seeing that he was too engrossed in his thoughts when another realization dawned upon him.

"…what did you just call me?"

"What? Do you have a problem, smiley trash bag?"

"heh… heheheheh hahaha!"

"…What's so funny?" Lily looked at him suspiciously.

"hehehe, nothing. it's just… out of all names that you can call me with, you chose 'smiley trash bag'. heh, what are the odds."

Sans pressed the YES button and joined the party as the twins blinked at his strange comment.

"…What are you talking about?" they spoke in unison.

Sans shook his head and smiled a little wider.

"nah, don't worry about it. let's go." then he started walking pass them to follow the others, leaving the twins in a confused state.

"O… kay?"

Sans on the other hand was in deep thoughts, trying to remember what was on his mind before the two brunettes interrupted his thoughts. He sighed and gave up when he realized that he couldn't remember what it was. Whatever it was that was bothering him, it was gone… for now.

 _ **Oh well, it probably wasn't important, anyway.**_

* * *

 _ **Just… what was this feeling?**_

The light-brown haired twins wondered. For a few years, they had been playing many other games with PoH and the rest of them. Sure, they weren't one to trust others quickly, but… for them, Sans was _**different**_. There was just something about him that didn't add up, they thought to themselves.

A few months ago, on the day where this death game had begun, they had been trying to survive. The twins had no one other than themselves and looked out for each other for quite some time as they searched for their friends, PoH, Raul, Tanya, and Z, but alas they couldn't find them anywhere.

Back in those days, they were still on the first floor and when they couldn't find the others the two thought that the worst had happened to all of them. Lily and Milly truly felt despair and stayed back at the Town of Beginning; completely giving up on fighting or trying to find their friends.

However, when they heard the news that first floor's boss was defeated, the two felt something that they never would have thought to feel again.

 _ **Hope**_.

Setting out from the Town of Beginning, the twins began their journey. They fought together, got stronger together, _**survived**_ together for more than a month until eventually they finally found the others; or rather the others found them.

It was another day of grinding. The twin sisters fought a group of monsters, but then they got ambushed by more monsters on their way back; it was a trap. They kept on fighting and tried to survive, but there were just too much and they found themselves getting cornered.

And when all hope seemed lost, PoH suddenly came to their aid. It was a miracle, really. It turned out that PoH had looked all over the place and found Raul, Z and Tanya all by himself. And as if it was the work of fate, he was passing by a nearby forest when he heard Lily's and Milly's scream. He never could've guessed that it came from the two people he was looking for since weeks ago, but he wouldn't have it any other way; after all, he came just in time to save them and they were all together again like they used to and that is all that matters.

That's right, he was the reason everyone was together. It all started from a simple curiosity in an MMORPG Forum, but it had turned into a strong bond of friendship. And this was all thanks to their happy-go-lucky leader.

It was a touching reunion. After all, the two of them never thought that they'd see each other again. And so, everything was peaceful.

…

…But it all changed, when _**he**_ came.

One day, PoH brought a stranger home; Sans. At first, they thought that he was annoying and, admittedly, funny, but overtime… something just felt… off.

For some odd reason, PoH seemed to be too attached to Sans. Sure, maybe it simply meant that they became great friends, but they couldn't help but notice that something about Sans was rather… _**suspicious**_.

He joined the guild, but his name was never on the guild's member list. He acted lazy and laid-back all the time, but they knew that he was _**very**_ observant; after all, he could tell Lily and Milly apart which was _**not**_ small feat; even their parents in real life had trouble telling them apart. They noticed others things too like how he usually dodge personal questions with a joke or dismissed it as nothing important, how he seemed like he know more than he let on, and, of course, his dimple smile façade.

However, despite his suspicious behavior, they too noticed the good traits that he had. They noticed that Sans worked hard in learning what the others like for their meals. They noticed that he worked hard in keeping the house tidy behind their backs, despite it constantly being messed up over and over again. They also noticed that he genuinely cared for everyone in the guild. All the jokes he made, all the laughs he shared, they could tell that those weren't an act. Sans was truly a good person.

…But if so, then why? _**Why**_ did they feel this way? _**Just**_ _**what was this feeling?**_ They wanted to trust Sans and be his friends, but they just… couldn't. They didn't know why they couldn't and this frustrated them.

Maybe this was all a bunch of nonsense. Maybe they were simply being paranoid and portrayed Sans as a bad guy to justify their suspicions. However, there was one thing that they did know for sure: the guild knew far too little about him compared to how much he knew about them.

PoH suddenly interrupted their thoughts,

"Alright, we've reached the first checkpoint according to the map that the Clearers shared with us and so far we haven't seen any monsters yet. The route branches out into two on the next checkpoint and we're going to go left from there to explore the part of the dungeon that hasn't been explored yet." He turned toward the twins and said, "Lily, Milly, scout ahead and see if there are monsters ahead. Be careful for ambushes or traps."

The twins nodded hesitantly, clearly not happy about today. Nevertheless they proceeded with caution.

* * *

"HAAAAAA!"

PoH slashed at the monster in front of him, causing it to stumble backward.

"Lily! Switch!"

"Understood."

Lily ran forward and lunged at the monster's neck with her trusty knife, killing it and destroying it into pixels.

The team was exhausted and took a moment to take catch their breath.

"Well… that's the last of them."

"…Geez… These guys are probably weaker than level five, but their numbers are insane!" Raul ranted.

"I know right." Z replied.

Sans stood a little further away at the group of six that have fought together in a perfect show of teamwork and he smiled. However, for that reason too, it was extremely hard for him to keep a smile on his face when all he wanted to do was breakdown in tears at how bad he feels to be useless at times like these.

He shook his head and regained his composure; this wasn't the time to be depressed. Sans then opened up his menu and pulled out something out of his inventory box.

"so… anyone hungry?"

Four out of the six players widened their eyes and expressed their surprise. They thanked Sans for bringing his cooking to the dungeon and immediately wolfed down their meals. Sans chuckled in amusement and commented,

"heh, you guys look like you've worked yourselves down to the _**bone.**_ "

"Hahaha, of course we did," PoH laughed at the pun, "But anyway, how's your level?"

And that got him. Sans didn't know what to say… this was the fifth time he asked that question and even after killing so many monsters, Sans was still a level one. He wanted to tell everyone that it was no use, but… with most of them trying to help him, he didn't dare to tell them the truth.

Sans bit his tongue, but smiled as he as always did.

"it's… coming along great thanks to you guys."

"Really?! Did you hear that guys? It's working!"

"Is that so? Well, that's great!" Tanya and Z sighed in relief. "Like killing two birds with one stone, we get to explore the dungeon _ **and**_ we get to help Sans level up!"

Raul then said, "Alright! High-five!"

Sans watched them high-fived and laughed a little before he eventually fell silent; it hurt him to hide the truth from them, but it was for the best.

… Or at least he thinks so.

He could feel the guilt of hiding the truth crawl up his spine, but he knew that he mustn't stop now. That's right. All that he had to do was wait for a few more hours, tell them that he felt a little stronger, and return home safe and sound where he wouldn't have to become a dead weight for them again.

Alas, fate had a different plan and Milly finally lost her patience.

"Enough…" Milly spoke lowly.

PoH noticed her sudden change of tone. "What?"

"I said, 'I had enough'! Both Lily and I can fight these monsters just fine if Sans wasn't being such a dead weight for us!"

Sans flinched; even Lily was surprised at her sister's blunt insult.

"B-Big sis!"

"Milly, that's enough—" PoH seriously replied, but was cut off by the light-brown haired assassin.

" _ **NO!**_ I won't listen to you anymore! Lily let's go!"

Z stood up and said "H-Hey, Milly! Lily! Let's just calm—!" But before he could even finish, the two ran away.

PoH shouted their names, but the twins didn't listen and kept on running deeper into the uncharted area of the dungeon. The rest of the group ran forward to catch up to them, but the two assassins were simply too fast for them.

"What are you two doing?!"

"Come back here!"

"Stop, you two!"

Sans felt a painful stab in his heart. How could he be so stupid to believe that he could stay with them? Watching them fight over a nobody like him brought him a sense of happiness… however it also brought him great guilt. He was watching what could be the breaking of a bond people call friendship and what's worse was the fact that _**he**_ was the cause of this happening.

Calling them was no use. Every second passed, the distance between them grew further apart. They ran and ran and ran until eventually—

"Huh?"

—it was the end.

"MILLY! LILY! LOOK OUT!"

The two twins stopped dead on their tracks as they looked above them. Giant rocks and boulders fell from the dungeon's ceiling and they were right below it with no way to dodge it in time.

Time seemed to slow down as the world around them turned into a slow motion. Everybody knew that it was too late. Everybody knew that they would get crushed under those heavy rocks and debris and none of them could do anything about it. Everybody knew…

That those two were going to _**die**_.

This was it. This was the end. The dungeon was caving in closer and closer and—

Sans' eye flashed and the whole dungeon shook.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_

Yo! I'm still alive! Well to be honest I was having such a terrible writer's block and had to take some time to think before writing this... plus the business I have IRL is also taking too much of a time for me to actually write something...

Nevertheless here it is. It might be great, it might suck, etc, etc, but I did my best despite my situations. The story is far from over so bear with me just a while longer.

Welp, thanks for everything and see ya next chapt, Capt!

:v /


	7. Of Doom and Cinders

"LILY! MILLY!"

PoH began to run towards the two player.

"PoH! Don't!"

"Big brother! Watch out!"

Tanya and Z pulled PoH just in time as the corridor caved in and everything shook.

Dust and smoke filled the air, earning a series of coughs from the group. Raul managed to roll to safety and asked, "I-is everyone else, okay?!" He scanned his surroundings and realized, "Wait… where is Sans?"

Realization dawned upon the guild leader and his eyes widened in fear as he turned his head slowly toward the debris that caved in and blocked the entire corridor.

A pregnant silence filled the air.

Tanya was the first to cut the silence, "N-No way, d-did Sans… Did he—?"

" _ **NO!**_ " PoH shouted in a sudden.

"B-But PoH—!"

Everyone saw the disturbing emotionless face that he had on his face. He was _**deadly**_ serious.

"We're not sure if they died just yet."

No one dared to say anything at first, but Z mustered up the courage to ask, "Then… then what do you think we should do?"

"Grab your equipments, we're going back. If there is a way into the trap then there must be either a way _**out**_ of it or _**around**_ it."

"Hold on, why would there be a way out? If there is a way out, then it wouldn't be called a dungeon trap, would it?"

Raul shook his head at Z's question.

"No, PoH is right. As much as a sadistic bastard our 'God of SAO' is, he wouldn't make such simple traps… he'd make a trap where the players had to fight for their lives through it if they still have any hope left to survive."

* * *

The debris was falling closer and closer and suddenly Milly felt a sudden strong force that pushed her out of the debris' way; saving her from her impending doom.

Dust and smoke filled the air around them and Milly was the first to scan her surroundings.

"S-Sister…? Sister?!" Milly called out.

"I-I'm here…!"

She turned around to see one of Lily's leg crushed under the rock.

"L-Lily!"

"I-It's okay, Sister. I don't feel any pain and my health bar is still yellow."

"A-Alright then let me help you!"

Milly lifted the rock and gave her sister a health potion, but it seemed that Lily's leg didn't heal even though her health bar is already green.

"W-What is this? A debuff? It says, 'Environmental Wound'"

"I… I don't know, Lily. In any case, let's get you up. Can you stand?"

Lily shook her head and said, "No, I don't think so. I don't feel pain, but I'm pretty sure that my leg was crushed by the debris."

"Alright, put your hand around my neck, I'll help you stand."

"Thanks."

They thought that they were trapped alone, but it turned out that they weren't.

"s…sup…? are… *pant* are you guys… *pant* alright?"

"S-Sans?!" the twins exclaimed in confusion.

Sans suddenly collapsed right in front of them and knelt with a look of pain as cold sweat began to pour out of his body.

"W-What happen?! A-are you okay?!"

"heh… *pant* and here i thought you wouldn't care…"

"Sans!"

"i'm fine, i'm fine, just need a… *pant* just need a break… ack!"

He grabbed his head and grunted in pain.

 _ **[w-what…**_ is _**this pain?! w-what the hell happened? one moment i was right beside poh, then i'm suddenly here… and why the hell does my body hurt so much as if it has broken through a brick wall?]**_

Sans was trying to refrain from screaming out in agony as much as he could as he clutched on his head harder. His body was in pain and he felt like he had a terrible, _**terrible,**_ migraine; it felt like his head was about to burst at any moment now.

"S-sans, don't joke around! You can't feel pain in this game!"

"h-heh… i… i guess… i guess i like to joke around, huh?"

Lily and Milly stared at the Sans face in shock and confusion. It was clear as day that Sans looked like he was in pain; it didn't look like he was faking it in any way.

They shook it off and Lily asked, "Maybe he's right, Milly. We should take a few moments to rest."

"Well… if you say so, Lily."

They trio sat there in silence for a few minutes; no one said anything. Usually, Sans would've broken the silence by cracking his bad jokes and puns, but he was in too much of an unfamiliar pain and headache for him to care.

Milly looked at Sans and then back toward Lily. She began to quiver and looked down in guilt and shame.

"M-Milly? Is there something wrong?"

Milly stayed silent for a few moments then tears suddenly fell from the corner of her eyes.

"that expression you're wearing… you must be feeling guilty."

Lily gasped, "SANS—!"

Sans suddenly laughed.

"heh… i'm just kidding." Sans was smiling as he used to be, "cheer up will ya? if we think things through, we'd be home in no time—"

" **ENOUGH WITH THAT CRAP!** " Milly shouted as she cried. "' _ **I'm just kidding'**_? **How could you say that?!** How can you simply dismiss everything and act like nothing happened?! It's clear isn't it?! This is all—!"

Before she even finished her words, Sans cut her off.

"' _ **This is all my fault**_ ,' is that what you are going to say?"

Milly didn't answer.

"What else are you going to say next, huh? _**'If only I had listened'**_? _**'How could I be so stupid**_ '? or ' _ **If only I didn't act the way I was, none of this would've happened,**_ '? **BULLSHIT!** "

Lily and Milly was stunned silent. They were both truly shocked at what he just said. Never once have they ever imagined that the comedian that Sans was could act so… heartless.

His perpetual smile had disappeared, his emotion was non-existent and his gaze was so dark and sharp that the twins felt like it pierced right through them.

Breaking the momentary silence, he continued, "If you still have the time and energy to blame yourself and spout those kinds of nonsense instead of finding a way out of this mess then you might as well go ahead and **kill yourself**! For crying out loud, don't you get it? BLAMING YOURSELF WON'T CHANGE A **GODDAMN** THING!"

Silence.

There was a long, pregnant silence after he said those words. Milly couldn't even muster up the courage to cry now. She was too afraid and too guilty to say anything else, worried that if anything she'd do next would only make things worse than it already are.

Lily fared no better, she didn't—no— _ **couldn't**_ say a word.

A few moments later, Sans realized what he just said when he took a closer look at how terrified and shocked they were at his sudden outburst. He realized how angry he really was and felt very guilty for lashing out at them the way he did. Sure, it might be their fault that he got caught into this mess, but it didn't justify that he should let out all of his pent up anger and blame it all into them.

Sans looked down and felt his sins crawling on his back.

He took a deep breath and was about to apologize until suddenly—

" _ **RAWWWRRR!**_

Out of the dungeon's wall, monsters began to spawn and crawl out of them; they looked like a zombie-skeleton hybrid.

In reflex, Milly immediately kill one of the monster nearest to her and began to continue slaughtering them all one by one.

[ _ **strange. judging on how easily milly killed them, these monsters are way too weak to be a dungeon trap monster… but why would a dungeon-trap monster be so weak…?**_ ]

However before he realized it, they were already outnumbered ten to one. [ _ **is that it? was this the reason the monsters were so weak? because of their quick spawn rate?**_ ]

Sans scanned through his surroundings and noticed something else that was strange. These monsters already outnumbered them, yet instead of encircling them, they gathered near the debris, leaving a way out for the three of them that leads deeper into the dungeon.

There was something fishy going on. Were these monsters actually trying to force them to go deeper into the dungeon? But why?

Well either way, Sans realized that time was running out and there were too many of them to handle and with Lily being temporarily disabled, the odds just took turn for the worse.

This was really _**not**_ his day.

"milly, you can't beat them! we need to move _**now!**_ " Sans stood up and went immediately towards Lily as he tried to shrug off the pain that he was still enduring. "lily, get on my back!"

"E-Eh? O-Okay."

"T-Then what should we do?" Milly asked in worry as she backed off from the seemingly endless horde of skeleton-zombies.

"the obvious of course! _**run!**_ "

As soon as those words were spoken, Sans lifted Lily on his back and began to run deeper towards the dungeon, followed by Milly as the monsters followed suit.

Eventually one or two of them managed to catch up to them, but Milly quickly took care of them as they kept running. They were running as fast as they could until eventually they lost them.

Putting Lily down, Sans and Milly tried to regain their breaths.

"We… We lost them…!" said Milly as she panted heavily.

"H-Hey, I can move my feet again!" Lily spoke out loud as she immediately stood up.

"Really? That's great!" Milly hugged her sister. "I'm glad we're alright."

In the middle of their peaceful moments, Sans was the only one that wasn't calm. Scanning through his surroundings, he realized that there were now in a quite spacious room. Everything was so dark and quiet.

…Perhaps, _**too**_ quiet.

Sans then mumbled out, "something… doesn't…"

"Huh? What is it, Sans?" Lily asked

"i said something doesn't add up."

"What are you talking about? Shouldn't we just be glad that we aren't dead yet?!"

"i know that you are happy to still be alive but there is something fishy going on here but —"

Before he could even finish, the room suddenly lit up. Bright green flames came into being and lit up everything from the corner of the room. The once quiet and peaceful atmosphere changed into an eerie one which alerted the three players.

And then _**it**_ came out.

Green flames burst in the middle of the room, catching the attention of the trio. A giant dark figure rose up from the eerie green flames, donned in a pitch-black armor that was blazing the same eerie flames which struck fear to those who gazed upon it.

A giant health bar came into being; a name was written on top of it.

 _ **Lv. 20**_ **[** _ **Knight of Cinders**_ **]**

* * *

" _ **Uuurgk**_!" with a last dying grunt, another lizard-like monster shattered into pixels as PoH pulled out his sword from where the monster's heart was.

"We're done here. Let's move on." He spoke with the same disturbingly emotionless tone.

Tanya, Raul, and Z were at lost to what was happening inside PoH's head. He was emotionless, but there was one thing that they noticed, one thing that they knew for sure: he was truly pissed.

The way PoH quickly charged at the monsters and gracefully killed each and every one of them without hesitation without letting them land a single strike on him…

They knew that PoH had a different personality whenever he was deadly serious, but this… 'new' PoH… it was the first time they had ever seen it.

A cold and emotionless killer that attacked as quickly as he took his enemies' lives… This was their leader now.

However, beneath the surface of that mask of a killer, they knew that he was afraid. They knew that he was scared. They also knew that he was angry, not at anyone, but at himself for not being a competent leader.

If only he was a better leader, then maybe this whole mess wouldn't have happened in the first place.

[ _ **No... This is no time to think about 'what ifs'**_ ]

A couple monsters spawned right in front of them, they were very big and they seemed to be wearing quiet a strong, yet light armor. 'An agile, yet high defense unit?' he wondered.

Readying their shield and swords, the group of four prepared themselves to engage once more.

[ _ **Lily. Milly. Sans. I promise that I'll come and save you. So please… please stay alive. I believe in you.**_ ]

* * *

There was a moment of silence within the room. Sans, Milly and Lily didn't dare to move an inch.

The Knight of Cinder was right there in front of them, not moving an inch as it observed the trio to see who'd make the first move.

[ _ **how could i be such stupid! of course they were leading them into a boss fight!**_ ]

Sans was sweating cold-sweat as he tried to think of a way to get out of this place.

[ _ **calm down. there must be a way out of this. there**_ **HAS** _ **to be. how about the teleportation crystals? no… i'm pretty sure that poh forgot to give us one since he thought that we were going to stay together. even if we do have teleportation crystals, does it even work in a boss fight? not to mention that this is a trap which might mean that we're in an anti-teleportation area… what else can we do? what to do, what to do…?**_ ]

Sans tried to use his psycho-kinesis but he winced in pain and frowned, [ _ **DAMN IT! what the hell is with this pain?! i can't concentrate with this freaking pain distracting me!**_ ]

"Sans!" A voice snapped Sans out of his thoughts; it was Milly's. "We will protect you! Both of us are level 28, so we'll protect you!"

"…why would you…?"

"PoH said that you have a very low level… we don't really understand it, but we know that it's bad." Lily continued.

"I'm sorry, Sans… _**We're**_ sorry, Sans. We're sorry that because of us, you got dragged into this… but we'll make it up to you!"

"That's right! Our leader told us that protecting you is our top priority."

"And we'll do everything we can so you can live!"

The moment Lily and Milly readied their weapon, the Knight of Cinder suddenly moved into a stance of his own. Then in a swift succession, the Knight lunged forward as the twin assassins went after the Knight too.

The ground shook as the Knight struck his sword towards the assassins, only to miss and hit the ground when they both dodged it. They quickly jumped toward the giant armored menace and landed their attacks.

Sans watched the two assassins fight the giant, speechless. After all that he had said… after all the hate and distrust they had in him… they were still willing to fight… for him?

There it was again; the guilt.

He had this power that could help them, yet the pain that he was enduring ruined his concentration. He had this power that could save everyone, yet using it might cause the system to detect him as an error and perhaps alert the Game Master to erase him from existence.

If he used his powers, he could save them but he might die. If he didn't use it, they might die and he might also die. It might be selfish of him to say, but he didn't want to die.

Sure he had only 1 HP, but like any sane human, he too was afraid of death… which was why the guilt was eating him alive.

They were ready to sacrifice themselves for him, to give up everything to save the person that they once didn't trust, unlike Sans who was only worried about his own death.

He threw the twins another look and saw how the boss' health bar was quickly entering the danger zone; it seems like they were winning the battle.

The Knight of Cinder was desperate and began attacking at all directions, but this was a huge mistake since his giant body left him a lot of opening for the twins to exploit. For a moment a spark of hope appeared within their hearts.

"Sister! Let's end it together!" Milly shouted.

"Alright! Let's go!"

Shouting a war cry they landed their final attack and ended the boss' life. The Knight of Cinder fell on his knees and gave a dying growl.

"they… they did it?" Sans whispered in disbelief and relief.

"D-Did we do it, Lily?"

"I-I think so, Milly…"

The twins looked at each other and hugged together, not believing that they could take down such a strong boss all by themselves.

Sans smiled as he watched the giant fell. It seemed like he might not have to use his powers after all.

He watched the Knight of Cinder fell and turned into ash and burn in a bright green flame and—

Wait… _**ash**_?

They didn't know what was coming. Everything happened so fast. Sans wanted to yell at them, to tell them to watch out, but it was too late.

The once gigantic Knight of Cinder had turned into a human-sized boss and lunged forward toward the unsuspecting twins through the green ashen cloud and deliver his first blow.

The twins shouted in pain as they were thrown away really hard towards the ground just from the sheer impact of the boss' blow. Lily and Milly realized that their health bars were now in the red zone.

The three players watched as the Knight of Cinder stood up once again, readying his sword.

Instead of one, there were now three health bars and the boss who was known as 'Knight of Cinder' was no more for his name had changed.

 _ **Lv. 35**_ **[** _ **Soul of Cinders**_ **]**

The boss then lifted his sword up and let out a deep and monstrous war cry and then the monsters that were chasing them in the corridor started to crawl out of the walls and the ground of the room.

 **Doomed.**

They were truly and utterly doomed.

Despair was in their eyes.

Disbelief was etched on their faces.

Hopelessness struck their hearts; and

 _ **Death**_ was ready to reap their souls _ **.**_

This was the end.

The Soul of Cinders lunged forward at the fear-stricken twins and time seemed to move slowly. He swung his sword and it was going to cleave the twins' head off.

The two shut their eyes and their lives were flashing before their very eyes. The happy days they shared in the real world; the happy days they lived with their family; the happy days they spent playing games with their friends; the happy days they experienced in this world, despite the sufferings they went through.

This was it.

The nerve gear was going to fry their brains. They waited for the inevitable and the sword made contact.

They said that people never really appreciate life until the moment you were about to lose it… They guessed that it was true.

With one last tear they both shared the same thought.

 **[Thank you, everyone… Goodbye.]**

* * *

 **[Author's Note]:**

Another cliffhanger after a cliffhanger?! _**FTW?**_ What the hell dude! Who the hell wrote this piece of junk!

…Oh, right. I did.

Meh. Tell me what you think of this chapter. Don't worry, there's still more to tell and trust me, you'd want to stick around for the next chapter. If you can read my mind, then you'd probably be able to guess what's going to happen next!

Here's a spoiler…

…

…Nah, just kidding, why would I spoil my own story? Where's the fun in that right? Mwuahahaha!

Oh well, anyway, if any of you are wondering about who is the Knight/Soul of Cinders you can go to the _**Dark Souls 3**_ Wikia and find a boss called _**Soul of Cinders;**_ Go ahead and watch those youtube fights if you must, cuz I'll be using his moves in this fight so a visual example might be able to explain to you better about his fighting style and etc.

I'm very bad at names and descriptions so that's why I used a boss from another game, lol, but don't worry, this might be the fisrt and last time I'm gonna do it. Anyway, I need you guys to google him out and just… you know… _**imagine**_ that his armors are pitch black and the flames are green instead of red… Maybe a little like _**Hecarim**_ from _**League of Legends**_ (?) Nah, too far.

Oh well, the climax is about to start, bruh! So stay with me, ya hear!

See ya next chapt, Capt!

:v /


	8. A Bone to Pick

Death is the cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about include aging, predation, malnutrition, disease, suicide, homicide, starvation, dehydration and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury.

In this case, microwave radiation that would fry one's brain.

Death – particularly the death of humans – has commonly been considered a sad or unpleasant occasion, due to the affection for the being that has died and the termination of social and familial bonds with the deceased. Other concerns include fear of death, necrophobia, anxiety, sorrow, grief, emotional pain, depression, sympathy, compassion, solitude, or saudade.

Then again, what is it like for someone to experience death? Many cultures and religions have the idea of an afterlife, and also hold the idea of reward or judgment and punishment for past sin, but while this might be true, what exactly would happen to those that got their brains fried by the Nerve Gear through in-game death? Where would they go? And how would it feel?

Obviously, no one would be able stay alive and tell the tale, but one could only guess that Lily and Milly were going to find out soon enough.

Would it be painful? Would somebody miss them? What have they done in life? And why the hell did they even buy the Nerve Gear that put them in this death game in the first place? …Would they have a happier end had they chose otherwise?

Questions upon questions ran through their minds as memories of their lives flashed before their eyes.

This was it; this was the day they die.

With eyes wide-open, they watched in slow motion as the Soul of Cinder moved to strike his last attack as their waited for the cold and dark embrace of death.

In a split of a second, they closed their eyes as darkness consumed their vision.

The Soul of Cinders put everything into his attack and struck true to its target; fire, dust and smoke filled the air as the attack made impact.

Silence filled the air and the smoke began to dissipate. The Soul of Cinders stood victorious, however—

"heh… you're gonna have to _**fry hotter**_ than that."

The twins heard the familiar voice and realized that they weren't dead. Opening their eyes, they saw the source of the darkness that consumed their vision.

A wall of bones stood tall as Sans stood defensively between them and the dark fiery knight with a raised arm, saving them for what was supposed to be their death; déjà vu.

"W-what is…?"

Confusion plagued their minds; they couldn't believe what just happened; they couldn't comprehend what just happened. What are those bones, they ask to themselves. How and what just happened?

Then, the Soul of Cinders suddenly jumped backward as Sans waved his arm, dodging the wall of bones that moved and was about to ram into the fiery knight before glitching out of existence as its target was now out of range. Without looking back, he asked, "are you two okay?"

There wasn't any answer; both of them were too scared and confused to say anything else. Sans frowned and felt his guilt crawling on his backbone, feeling ashamed of himself.

 _[heh… how dare i… how dare i even hesitate to save those that would sacrifice themselves to save me?]_

That was it. It was too late now since they have seen it. He didn't want to use this power due to its numerous unknown risks, but if using it meant that he could save his friends… then he wouldn't have it any other way.

The Soul of Cinders took a stance as Sans stood up and thought out loud, "heh… not like i'm expecting any answers anyway."

The fiery dark-knight took his sword and stabbed it right into the ground, burning everything in his close vicinity in eerie green flames. Out of this scorched floor, multiple monsters began to spawn and crawl out of the ground; Undead Skeleton Warriors.

Pulling his sword out of the ground, the Soul of Cinders took a stance as his undead minions gathered and got ready to attack.

Outnumbered ten to one, not including the boss himself, things were not looking very good. Lily and Milly couldn't think of anything anymore. They were too scared and too confused to do anything that they simple sat there, hugging each other with their eyes still full of disbelief in what was happening.

Sans knew that things were looking bad. Not only did he got himself outnumbered, if Lily and Milly can't do anything, then that would mean he had to fight for his life as he fight to protect theirs too.

With such an overwhelming odds at hand, Sans chuckled darkly at the thought that this might be his karma catching up to him for hiding his powers out of fear and paranoia for so long.

 _[huh… 'Sans' stood idle by even when the Protagonist was killing all of his friends one by one… well, i am not making the same mistake he did.]_

Sans took a deep breath; eyes still closed.

"lily. milly. i'm sorry for taking so long, but now you can both sit back and relax…"

Smiling wider and darker than usual, Sans opened his eyes and his left eye burnt brightly.

"…Cuz' I have a _**bone**_ to pick with this guy."

And just like that, the skeletons shouted a war cry and ran towards Sans as he walked closer towards them. The skeletons managed to get close to him and lunged forward to slash, stab and behead Sans, however, as if time was slowing down, Sans could see their movement in utmost detail.

His usually enhanced senses were multiplied by a few folds and he could see clearer, feel stronger, and hear louder than he ever had. The flow of air around him, the temperature of the room, the intensity of the light coming from the eerie green flames, the killer instincts of these monsters, the vibrations of footsteps.

In front of him was a skeleton trying to stab into his chest, however, faster than it could even touch him, Sans had managed to sidestep the attack gracefully, causing the skeleton to miss its target and stab at one of its fellow monster who was right behind where was Sans was.

Other attacks were coming horizontally from behind him and with his enhanced senses, he didn't even need to look back to see where they would attack. As quick as he dodged the first attack, he dodged the simultaneous attacks and rolled to the right and distanced himself a little bit.

Then, with his eyes flashed, tens of bones glitched into existence and flew toward the monsters. Like hot-knife through butter, the bones rained down upon the group of skeletons like arrows and as dust and fog fill the air as their bodies exploded into pixels.

Watching that his minions are easily killed off one by one, the Soul of Cinders decided to lunge at him and swing his sword.

Sans, of course, dodged that too and instead used the opportunity to trap the boss as bones shot out of the ground where the Soul of Cinders landed and pierced through his armor.

A loud hissing noise echoed within the room as the Soul of Cinders struggled and back-flipped away to safety, but not without realizing that one of his HP bar was tinted purple as it was decreasing really fast at an accelerated rate.

The two then took a moment to breath and plan their next attack, Sans was assessing his situation as the Boss did the same.

Sans got ready when the Soul of Cinders readied himself and swung his sword in a fiery swish, lunging forward for the kill.

Sans knew this pattern, the boss would swing his sword once, then initiate a combo—

Sans barely dodged it. Instead of the pattern he predicted, the boss tried to stab Sans once before spinning around horizontally as the tip of the sword burned brightly.

Through sheer luck and reflex, Sans dodged the attack, then rolled away to safety. Frowning in confusion he asked himself, _[bosses and normal monsters are no different in RPGs. they have a set of moves and patterns that you can analyze before you exploit it. but why does it feel like his attacks suddenly… 'changed'?]_

Swinging his sword once more, green eerie fire covered the fiery knight's sword before suddenly turning into a staff-like sword.

It was then he widened his eyes as the realization hits, _[his weapon… changed?!]_

Dark ball of shadow floated around the fiery knight as Sans was trying to figure out what he was doing, it was then he realized where the Soul of Cinder was aiming at.

"Lily! Milly!"

Rushing toward the twins just in time, he summoned three layers of walls of bones, then the boss shot his dark beam of energy. Gritting his teeth, Sans sweat was pouring out of his body as he struggled to withstand the beam.

After what felt like hours of being rammed by a moving truck, Sans' knees almost gave out as the mental strain weighted heavily on his mind; he had never used his powers to this extent before.

Not even a moment to regain his breath, the fiery knight summoned a few other balls of shadows before shooting them toward Sans as if they were Undyne's energy spears.

 _[so you change your weapons to gain advantage on every situation, huh?]_ Sans smirked, _[i got you now.]_

Sans ran forward as he dodged the incoming dark energy spears and used some of his own bones to protect himself from the incoming projectiles.

As predicted, the boss swung his sword and transformed the previously staff-like sword into a curved one. The Soul of Cinders also ran forward to vertically strike Sans, but he was ready and jumped out of the way, using his telekinesis to temporarily root the boss to the ground before summoning bones out of the ground to hurt his opponent.

However, Sans could only make a few hits, since the boss broke free out of Sans' telekinetic grip and immediately back-flipped away to safety. The Soul of Cinders extended an arm and a fire burned brightly on his hand, then he was about to fuse this fire into his chest.

Sans didn't know what the monster in front of him was doing, but he sure as hell wasn't going to let it finish whatever it is it was doing.

 _[oh no you don't!]_

Sans shot his bones forward and one of them struck the boss' hand, causing him to stagger. Sans saw the opportunity and moved forward for the kill. Rooting the fiery menace into the ground, he summoned bones from above, below and around him.

With his entire HP slowly being covered in purple tint, the Soul of Cinders desperately hugged himself tighter, but then as Sans sensed a sudden spike of energy, he moved out of the way as the fiery boss exploded in a dark shadowy light.

Standing him once again, the boss stabbed his sword into the ground and scorched the land below him. Undead Skeleton Warriors rose from the ground as Sans snorted smugly, the boss was getting desperate.

However, his smug smile faded when he realized that they weren't going after him, they were trying to kill the paralyzed twins.

Sans ran toward the two girls and tried to protect them as best as he could, but then—

"Sans look out!"

—the Soul of Cinders charged forward to stab his opponent with a spear attack.

Sans closed his eyes to brace for impact. For a moment he thought that he was dead, but opening his eyes slowly, he realized that he was saved by none other than Milly who pushed him away to safety.

They quickly stood back up. Sans prepared his bones as they were surrounded by a dozen of Undead Skeleton Warriors as Lily readied her own dagger.

"i told you to let me handle it, didn't i?"

"We were supposed to be your babysitter. We can't afford to sit down here all the time being scared and confused if we want to live, can we?"

"…heh, touché."

A few skeletons tried to sneak attack them, but failed as Milly used her combo to cut them into pieces.

"Thanks, sister!"

"Sans!" Milly tried to gain his attention. "You'd better explain to us about who and what you are later or else we will definitely kill you if we get out of this alive!"

Sans looked back into their eyes and saw that they were serious. However, despite their seriousness, there were warm smiles on their faces. Sans held back a laugh, "heh. fair enough."

Shouting a battle cry, the twin assassins gracefully killed the skeletons one by one as Sans used his bones to protect and kill the skeletons that was trying to hurt them.

Filled with determination, they gave it their all to defeat the quickly-spawning skeletons, but it was no use.

"There is no end to these things!" Milly shouted in frustration.

Killing one of the skeletons, Lily replied, "Sans, leave the minions to us! Defeat the boss!"

Staring at them in surprise, he never thought that there would come a day where they both would finally trust him. He guessed this was the day; he'd better not let them down.

"understood."

He smiled and ran toward the fiery knight that was kneeling and ringing a bell as bright magical circle appeared below him. However, being too late to stop him, the magic circle shone and the boss regained one of his HP bars again.

In quick succession, the Soul of Cinders stood up and also ran toward Sans with a curved sword in hand. The distance between them was closing and it was then Sans swung his arm as a wall of bones appeared and blocked the boss' first attack in time.

Swinging his arm again, Sans used his telekinesis to push the boss back and summoned sharp bones at where the boss was going to land. The attacks hit, but again, the boss back-flipped away and were left with one and a half HP bars left.

Not giving the boss any time to recover, Sans summoned a few more bones and shot them forward toward him. The Soul of Cinders didn't have enough time to dodge and found himself struck by tens of bones imbued with karmic retribution effect.

The fiery dark-knight realized that all of his HP bar was tinted purple and was decreasing quickly and in desperation, he changed his curved sword into a staff and summoned a few balls of shadow.

Sans, recognized the attack and summoned a few layers of wall of bones.

"lily! milly! get behind me!"

Then the beam was shot and Sans tried his very best to maintain his wall of bones despite the incredible mental strain that he was feeling. However, it was end.

"Sans, go!"

As the beam dissipated, Sans shot one last bone toward the Soul of Cinders and being caught off-guard, the attack managed to pierce through his chest, damaging the last of his HP.

Staggering for a few moments, the fiery knight fell forward in a kneeling position as he dropped his sword. All of the Undead Skeleton Warriors suddenly breathed their last breath as they exploded into pixels.

"W-We did it!"

Sans narrowed his eyes and kept his eyes on the boss, but then—

"ACK! ARRGH!"

He suddenly knelt in pain and clutched his head.

"S-Sans! Are you okay?!" the twins rushed toward the boy.

Sans tried to endure the excruciating headache that he was suffering from and gritted his teeth.

"…y-yet…"

"What…?"

 **"he isn't dead yet!"**

Widening their eyes, they felt a sudden burst of energy coming from right behind them. Eerie green flames erupted from the fallen boss as he slowly rose from where he fell.

Wielding his sword, the knight body and weapon burned brighter than ever. Another burst of fire erupted, temporarily blinding their vision, and they widened their eyes in disbelief.

* * *

 **Lv. 50 [Lord of Cinders]**

* * *

Silence fell within the room, but then Milly's eyes widened in fear and disbelief as she shouted in frustration, "HOW IS HE STILL ALIVE?!"

Lily didn't fare better seeing that she was shaking a little from being shocked, "Just how many times must we kill him until he's dead?!"

Milly then gasped when she realized something, "Lily, look! He only have one HP bar!"

"Judging from our attacks before, I think we can use our combos to kill him in one go!"

Sans who heard what they said widened his eyes, _[no… don't tell me…]_ He was about to tell them not to go through with whatever it is they were planning, but the pain came back and he clutched his head harder.

"Let's end this, Sis!" Milly exclaimed before running towards the boss hadn't moved.

"Let's go, Sister!" Lily replied and followed suit.

Sans noticed that the previously Soul of Cinders lifting his sword and holding back his pain he said, "y-you idiots, get out of the way!"

Heeding Sans warning just in time, the twins managed to dodge the knight's burning sword which suddenly extended as he continuously swung his sword over and over again before suddenly plunging the sword deep into the floor, causing everything around him to explode and burn in eerie green flames.

While they weren't hit by the boss' sword attack, the explosion's force pushed them back so hard that their body flew toward the wall of the room with their health points entering the red zone.

 _[l-lily! mill—ACK!]_

Sans tried to stand up to help, but the pain still didn't go away; it only grew stronger and more painful as the seconds passed.

 _[damn it! what is this pain?! why is it so hard for me to try and save the people i care about when i have this powers!]_

The Lord of Cinders walked forward slowly as he lifted one of his hand as if trying to grab something, then a lightning bolt suddenly crackled into being on his hand and he threw it toward the ceiling.

Lily and Milly managed to recover and used the potions. They watched carefully at the lightning bolt that the boss threw and they widened their eyes when their realized that the bolt split up into tens of other tiny bolts and was about to rain down upon them.

With their agility and sharp reflexes, Milly grabbed Sans and barely dodged the attack, however Lily didn't make it in time. A shout echoed in the room as Lily got struck by one of the tiny lightning bolts and although small, the damage it dealt was enough to decrease her recently replenished HP back into the yellow zone.

Milly narrowed her eyes and in anger rushed toward the boss, "You bastard! I'm going to kill you!"

Sans widened his eyes in shock at Milly's poor sense of judgment, "milly, no—!" But he was too late.

"Agh!" The Lord of Cinders managed to grab her neck with one of his hand and lifted her body off the ground. "L-Let… me… go…!"

Sans tried to force himself to move through his hellish pain. _[i have to save them…]_

Milly realized that the boss' hand was glowing and she widened her eyes in despair when she realized what was going to happen next. Fire erupted from his hand and exploded right into her face and neck, causing her body to fly and landed rather hard toward the floor.

 _[i have to save them.]_

"M-MILLY!" Lily rushed at her side and saw that Milly's health bar was on critical.

She tried to use her potion, but Lily widened her eyes in pure despair when she realized... they were out of health potions.

A flash of bright green flame from behind her caught her attention and she saw the Lord of Cinders lifting his sword again.

 _[i have to save them!]_

Lily realized that there was no time to dodge and it was going to be the end for them. As time seemed to slow down, she hugged her sister defensively as she prepared to sacrifice herself for her.

Then, the Lord of Cinders, swung his flaming sword.

 _ **NOOOOOOOO!]**_

Sans' eye flashed so bright that the Lord of Cinders staggered, blinded from the light. Sans teleported right between them and used his telekinesis to lift the Lord of Cinders off the ground.

Without a pause, he continued to slam the the boss down to the ground over and over before summoning bones from the ground, impaling his armor from all sides, locking him in place.

Then as Sans' eye flashed one more time, he snapped his finger as four giant gaster blasters glitched into being; all pointed toward the boss of the room.

As if knowing that he was about to die, the Lord of Cinders attempted to struggle through the bones that bound him in place, but it was a futile effort.

The gaster blasters opened their mouth and charged their attacks as the boss merely tried to struggle more in desperation. However—

With an incredibly disturbing smile, Sans muttered out, **"get dunked on."**

 _ **—It was the end.**_

The blasters shot their beams and after a few seconds, the Lord of Cinders was no more.

A pregnant silence filled the room.

There was no 'Congratulations' or music that played after Sans beat the boss; there was absolutely nothing, but the long and peaceful silence.

The twins who were watching the whole thing were left speechless. They had mixed emotions. They were glad to still be alive, they were relieved that they were still okay, however out of all the other emotions, one of the emotions that stood out the most… was fear.

For Sans to be able to kill the boss effortlessly using his last attack… they could only imagine if he was pointing the same attack at them and they'd have no way to run.

However, it wasn't only fear that was on their minds, it was about Sans expression. The way he smiled before he killed the boss… it was an expression that they had never imagined Sans to possess; it disturbed them.

Silence still filled the air, but then Sans collapsed once more and let out an agonizing scream of pain that broke the silence and caught their attention.

"S-Sans—?!"

Before they arrived at his side, Sans suddenly coughed out blood as his body fell to the ground. They turned his body around and gasped in shock. Sans' left eye was extremely red and a few tear of blood was coming out of the corner of his eyes, earholes, and nose.

Sans was sweating, coughing, gagging, twitching and hyperventilating uncontrollably in such a pain so excruciating he couldn't even scream anymore.

Pain was the only thing that filled Sans mind. He couldn't think, he couldn't see, he couldn't breathe, and all he could think about was the agony that he was going through. It felt like as if his brain was slowly melting.

The twins didn't know what to do and they panicked. However as Sans was losing grip from his consciousness, he managed to croaked out his last words, "do… dont…"

"W-What is it, Sans? What do we do?!"

Using every ounce of strength he had left, he said, _**"Don't… tell… anyone."**_ And with that the darkness consumed the world around him.

* * *

Darkness, it was all there is around him.

There was no sound, no voice.

There was a long and peaceful silence within this void.

However,he noticed that things around him began to... _**change.**_

Dark, darker, yet darker…

The darkness keeps growing,

The shadows cutting deeper,

And light's slowly fading.

 _[Where am I?]_

 _[What happened to me?]_

He looked around his surroundings,

But only there's only darkness as far as eyes could see.

He realized then,

He was growing weaker.

His mind felt heavy,

Consciousness was slowly leaving him.

Fear began to grow within him,

He feared that he would never wake up if he fell asleep.

He grew worried and so he started to struggle.

Forcing himself to stay awake, he—

" **oh, get a grip, kid. you're not gonna die."**

 _[W… what was that?]_

" **nothin' really. i'm just an spooky voice within your head**."

 _[N-not that! I mean, who said that?]_

 **"heh, funny that you're asking of all people cuz'…"**

 _[What… what do you… mean…?]_

He turned around and with his mouth agape, he widened his eyes at who he saw.

" **hi. i'm sans. sans the skeleton."**

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_

Hello! It's been a while, but hey! I'm not dead! Things are getting a little hard in real life so I had to posrphone on continuing my stories.

Don't worry, though, I'm not gonna abandon it any time soon so there's that.

Anyway, fyi, this is the first time for me to write a chapter via fanfic dot net's mobile app so I hope I'm not butchering the story too much, lol.

Welp, there'll be explainations ahead about why he has the powers so look forward to it! Tell me what you think about this chapter and thanks for reading!

See ya next chapt, Capt!

:v /


	9. Home

" **hi. i'm sans. sans the skeleton."**

He was an _**actual**_ short skeleton with a smile that 'flesh' Sans—no— **Akiyoshi Mizuki** knew all too well. The unzipped blue hoodie, the white t-shirt, the black shorts with white stripes and the pair of slippers… There was no mistaking it.

He was the Sentry of the Underground, the Mysterious Ex-Scientist of the CORE, the Easiest Enemy who can only deal '1 damage' and a Master of the Forbidden Arcanery plucked from the Ancient **Punny** Grimoire of Endless **Puntastiliciousaucy** Puns and Jokes.

…Yeah, _**THAT**_ Sans.

 **[You're… sans?]**

" **in the flesh. no, wait, that'd be you. heh, i should've said in the** _ **bone**_ **."**

 **[But… but HOW?!]**

Sans chuckled at the shocked 'Sans'.

" **confused says, 'what'?"**

 **[What?]**

" **heh, nothing…"**

And awkward silence filled the air, but then the skeleton Sans decided to break the silence.

" **so… it's been a while."**

 **[…It seems so.]**

" **heh, this is awkward, isn't it?"**

 **[Heh, you tell me.]**

" **then i guess a change in scenery might help."**

With a snap of his finger, the darkness around him began to dissipate and take form into a familiar snowy forest.

 **[Snowdin? Really? Talk about a way to break the** _ **ice.**_ **]**

" **well** _ **, dew**_ **you have any better idea?"**

 **[Hmm… nah, not really.** _ **Icy**_ **your point now.]**

" **heh. i thought** _ **snow."**_

For a moment, the merely stared at each other, but then they burst into a fit of laughter at their own bad jokes.

" **pfft. y'aren't half bad, kid. keep it up and ya might be my new favorite pal."**

 **[Haha, thanks.]**

The two of them then sat on the cold snowy floor. Surprisingly, Mizuki found that the snow were he sat wasn't cold at all. In fact, it was rather warm and comfortable.

Sans began again.

" **so… you've been through quite a lot since the past few months, huh?"**

 **[Heh, 'a lot' might be an understatement.]**

" **yeah, i can only imagine being trapped in a game where you are cursed with both this power and weakness without your consent… oh, wait. that WAS my life too. silly me."**

 **[Pfft, I guess we both have something that we can share together, huh?]**

" **heh, i guess so."**

Sans paused and then took a deep breath.

"… **You know what? Let's just get to the point."**

 **[…I don't understa—]**

" **You are dying."**

Sans pupils disappearing as he said so. Mizuki was left speechless, but then he merely gave a slow reply.

 **[I… see...]**

"… **you're taking this information rather well."**

 **[Can't say I didn't expect it. I mean, it felt like my brain was melting before I passed out.]**

" **well, newsflash it kind of did."**

 **[So… what then? Am I dead?]**

" **no, no, worse than that. you're still alive."**

 **[Hah,** _ **very**_ **funny.]** Mizuki sarcastically replied as Sans chuckled, but then he sighed and asked again in a serious voice, **[Who are you, really?]**

Sans smiled and closed his eyes.

" **i'm an artificial intelligence. created by the cardinal system at the same time you were given my powers… Mizuki."**

 **[How did you—?]**

" **tell me, what do you know of the nerve gear?"**

 **[…Well, I know that the Nerve Gear's high-density microwave transceivers are capable of accessing the user's brain, allowing it to send fake signals to the five senses of the user, manipulating them.]** He paused then quickly added, **[Oh, and I also know that it could fry your brain.]**

" **heh, yea, i guess that part is pretty hard to forget."**

Sans then pulled out something from his pocket; it was a bottle of ketchup.

" **ketchup?"**

 **[No, thanks. I prefer mayo.]**

" **meh, more for me then."**

He began to take a gulp or two from the bottle and let out a satisfied 'ah.'

" **anyway, you are right about those, but it does more than that."**

 **[More?]**

" **that's right. it doesn't simply send fake signals. before it does so, it must SCAN through the user's brain first to locate which exact parts of the brain were supposed to be manipulated. this is because every individuals have different brain sizes and shapes."**

 **[Wait… are you telling me that…]**

" **that the process also unintentionally scanned through the user's memories and personalities? yes. yes, it does."**

 **[But what does that got to do with anything?]**

" **simple. your nerve gear malfunctioned."**

 **[Malfunctioned?]**

" **yea, you know, like, bugs, glitches, errors, and stuffs. that happened."**

 **[I still don't understand what you're talking about.]**

" **look, your nerve gear malfunctioned and it started doing things that it wasn't supposed to do. few of them are: one, your enhanced senses. two, the pain that only you can feel. and third is of course, your power—MY power.**

" **the cardinal system… is technically an artificial intelligence. it is a self-programming software that maintains this very world. one of the tasks that the cardinal system was given was the automatic generation of quests and items to fit into the game based on myths, legends, and folklore in the internet to keep the game… 'interesting'.**

" **and guess where did it get its references and keywords from for looking for said myths and legends?"**

 **[The… scanned memories of the players?]**

" **bingo. here's some snowflake cookies."**

 **[…It's just snow.]**

" **pfft. i** _ **snow**_ **."**

Sans tried to make a pun, but Mizuki ignored it.

 **[What, so are you telling me that I became 'Sans' because of my… 'memories'?]**

" **honestly, i don't know. i was only created to meet you and give you some heads up, so i don't really know about why the cardinal system gave it to you.**

" **hell, for all i know, the cardinal might even thought that it would be 'interesting' if they turn the malfunctions in your nerve gear as a power. who knows, maybe there're also things like, hidden magical skills or a laser sword or perhaps a bow hidden somewhere within this world.**

" **the system is just as random as that."**

 **[Heh, so, basically, I'm either lucky or unlucky to get this power, huh…]**

" **in my opinion, you are indeed lucky. think about it. you are using a malfunctioning brain-manipulating device. it's a wonder that you're still ALIVE.**

" **tho, i wonder if your consciousness would still be intact if you 'return' to your body… if it** _ **could**_ **return anyway."**

 **[…]**

A soft winter breeze blew as a moment of silence fell between them. Sans then took the initiative and spoke again.

" **i know, i've said this before, but you're taking this information rather well."**

 **[I'm not stupid, you know. All power comes at a cost. I've had my own suspicions and theories of why and how this power works.**

 **[Besides, I've also had my fair share of paranoia and despair knowing that I might die any day, anytime, and anywhere being stuck with only 1 HP and all those stuffs.**

 **[Why else would I give up if not for the fact that my own chances of survival are so damn small…?]**

Mizuki looked up toward the snowy sky above, **[Still, I want to live. That's why even though it's small, I still have some hopes but…]**

" **but?"**

 **[…Truthfully, I don't even care anymore whether I live through this game or not. Even if I do live through it, I still might not even be able to go back to the real world. And even if I could go back to the real world…]**

A flashback of how his mother hated him and telling him to kill himself or go away despite the efforts he did to try and make his mother happy and proud began to play in his mind. A tear fell from the corner of his eye as he smiled in sadness.

 **[What's left for me there, anyway?]**

A pregnant silence filled the atmosphere, but then out of nowhere, Mizuki heard a snicker from Sans. Then the snicker turned louder and it became a chuckle. Before he knew it the chuckled had become a full blown laughter.

 **[…What's so funny?]**

" **hehe, you almost sounded like me."**

 **[Oh,** _ **I**_ **sounded like a deadly anti-nihilistic comedian? Heh, touche]**

" **don't be so pessimistic, kid. that's what happens when you try to roleplay MY character for too long. it's bad for your health kid."**

 **[Well isn't that rich coming from you of all people.]**

They both shared a laugh and Sans took another drink of his ketchup.

" **you know, i still haven't told you why you're dying."**

 **[Huh. That slips my mind too.]**

" **i'll spare you the detail, but here's what basically happened. your nerve gear's malfunctions are both the source of your power and weakness.**

" **the cardinal system somehow developed an advanced algorithm for you to control your telekinesis powers and to summon bones and gaster blasters and since you are a normal human that aren't supposed to be able to do such a feat, your brain is being given fake signals a few times more than how much it was supposed to be.**

" **this is why you get headaches the longer or harder you use my power because your brain kept getting these 'more than it should be' signals.**

" **however, if you keep forcing yourself then… you'd unlock my empowered state."**

 **[Empowered state?]**

" **it's just fancy words for my 'flashy eye' moments where my powers get doubled or tripled by a few folds.**

" **when in this state, all feelings of mental strains that the signals sent to your brain would be temporarily blocked so you would be able to fight harder and faster without having to be distracted by the mental strains; it's like an adrenaline…"**

 **[…I'm sensing a 'but' somewhere.]**

" **the more you push yourself, the more signals are being sent into your brain. and the more signals are being sent into your brain? well… just imagine your brain heating up until it melts like butter in a microwave."**

 **[Are you telling me that using this power it basically like slowly heating up an oven? That over exerting this power could eventually kill me?]**

 **yup. sad isn't it?**

 **[No wonder I felt my brain WAS melting… then what about the blood I coughed?]**

" **since you almost got your brain melted, your real body is suffering the effects. if your body is in a hospital, i can imagine the doctors and nurses are frantically taking extra care of your body since blood suddenly burst out of your eyes, ears, nose, and mouth by now.**

" **also, this brain damage is permanent. even i'm not sure of what would it do to your body."**

Mizuki processed the information in silence, but then he groaned in frustration.

 **[Ugh, this talk about my death and pessimistic point of views is starting to give me a headache… If that's what really happening with my body, then I guess I'll die.]**

Mizuki shrugged nonchalantly; by now he's used to fact of being in a situation between life and death; too used to it that he didn't even care anymore.

" **heh, too bad, kid, cuz', like i've said before, you're going to live."**

 **[Huh? How can you tell?]**

" **you are still talking with me."**

 **[What do you mean?]**

" **if you were really going to die, then you'd slowly lose consciousness and we wouldn't be talking for as long as we did."**

 **[But you said I was—]**

" **i said you were dying, not that you were actually going to die."**

 **[…I don't get it.]**

" **pfft, then i guess you still have a lot to learn."**

Sans took one last gulp of his ketchup and put the empty bottle back into his jacket's pocket. Then he stood up and stretched for a bit.

" **Mizuki, just remember that you are not me. Remember that you have more freedom than I ever had when I was stuck in the underground. You can save and protect more people than I ever could.**

" **Unlike me, you are you. Your possibilities are limitless as long as you are determined. You—"**

 **[Pfft! Hahahahahaha!]**

"… **Is there anything funny?"**

 **[No, it's just… the 'Sans' is giving me a speech about determination? That is so unlike you, haha!**

 **[Besides, I kind of figured that one out a long time ago. I mean, why else did I risk my life to save Lily and Milly? Not to be rude, but you didn't do anything when Chara killed Papyrus.]**

" **hey, you can't blame me. i was programmed to do so."**

 **[I know.]**

The two of them smiled sadly, but then the sadness disappears as Sans grinned.

" **welp. my time's up. and you're waking up."**

 **[Is that so… well, you may not be the real Sans that I was expecting, but I guess you're close enough.]**

" **huh? what kind of sans were you expecting?"**

 **[The kind that would waste my time by talking with double meanings and jokes without any specific information. It's kind of weird to see 'Sans' actually explain something. Heck, even your Genocide route counterpart still used some cryptic double meanings.]**

" **pfft, well it's not my fault. blame this AU's author."**

 **[What?]**

" **nothing. welp, it was nice meeting you."**

Sans smiled wider and extended a hand which Mizuki shook.

 **[The feelings mutual—]**

 _ ***a loud farting noises echoed***_

Silence fell between the two of them for a few seconds until Sans doubled over laughing out loud.

" **pfft! the old whoopee-cushion on the hand trick! it's** _ **ALWAYS**_ **funny!"**

 **[Did you… did you just—?!]**

" **i sure did, boi! geeettttttt dunked on!"**

 **[Ohoho, you're gonna pay for that one day, you sneaky bones of pranks!]**

" **hey, it takes one to** _ **snow**_ **one."**

 **[How** _ **Rudolf**_ **you to say that!]**

" **come on now, don't give me the** _ **cold**_ **shoulders** _ **."**_

 **[What can** _ **ice**_ **say? You casted the** _ **frost**_ **stone!]**

" **seems like the** _ **thin ice**_ **we were walking on** **has** _ **sled**_ **us to this** _ **punny**_ **war."**

 **[** _ **White**_ **you do that, though?]**

" **cuz' i came, i** _ **thaw,**_ **i conquered."**

 **[Well, now I'm** _ **piste…**_ **]**

The two stared intensely at each other for a full minute, before bursting into a fit of laughter so loud it echoed throughout the Snowdin Woods.

As the laughter died down, Sans turned around and started walking away. The further he went down the snowy path, the more blurry his surroundings became.

Suddenly, Mizuki called out to Sans which made him stop.

 **[Will I ever see you again, Sans?]**

Sans smiled warmly and gave him one last wave without turning his back.

" **one day, kid… one day."**

And with that the world fade back into the pitch black void it once was and Mizuki awoke from his dream.

* * *

A wall of bricks, that's what it felt like when he was opening his eyes. His body felt heavy and his throat was dry, but still he forced himself into a sitting position.

A sudden jolt of pain caused him to clutch his head in pain. It felt like he was having a terrible hangover. He scanned through his surroundings and noticed that he was in a room.

 **[i'm in… the twins' room?]**

He looked outside and saw the moon shining brightly through the glass of the window beside him.

 **[i'm still alive, huh... how long have i been out?]**

Just as he finished his thoughts, he heard a click and the door opened.

"S… Sa…Sans?"

Sans knew that voice. Putting on his trademark smile, he turned to look at who entered.

"hi, milly. did'cha miss—Oof!"

Before he could even finish, Milly ran toward Sans with a crushing hug.

Sans was about to ask what was wrong, but he was silenced when Milly began to breakdown in tears chanting an endless stream of apologies.

The sound of her crying alerted the whole house and Lily came to check on what was going on. Seeing that Sans was finally awake, she too went to hug him in tears, glad that he was alive, as the rest of the _**Final Seekers**_ entered the room.

"y-yo. what did i miss—?"

" **SANS!"**

"whoa, whoa, no, don't—!"

And just like that, Sans was wrapped in a group hug.

"…ow."

…Or more like he was buried under them.

* * *

 **Later That Night…**

* * *

Peace. The moon shone above him and the cold night air rustled through the leaves. Droning of cicadas echoed from the forest and Sans was sitting on the porch as everyone else have fallen asleep after expressing how worried they were for him.

"S-Sans?"

Well… maybe not everyone.

"hm? oh, it's you, lily."

"What are you doing out here this late? You should be going back to sleep."

"heh, it's fine. i can't sleep anyway."

"I see…"

"what about you? shouldn't _**you**_ be sleeping?"

"Sleep? Ugh, how could _**anyone**_ sleep with _**both**_ PoH's and Raul's snoring in the same room?"

Sans chuckled at her frustration as she went to sit right next to him. She then turned to look at what Sans' was staring at and saw the stars that decorated the beautiful night sky.

"Wow." she breathed out.

"beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yes… Yes, it is."

She lived here long before Sans even came, yet she had never seen such a beautiful night sky that was always right above her all along.

"how long was i out?" Sans broke the silence.

"Five." She replied, "You've been out for five days."

"five days, huh… i guess, i should get a vacation for staying in bed unconscious for five whole days, hehe."

She giggled at his joke which slightly surprised him; it was the first time he had ever heard Lily truly laugh at his joke.

However, as soon as her laughter died down, Sans could tell from her face that she was sad.

"You know… it's been hard for us since you were out, especially Milly. She believed that things wouldn't happen the way it did if only she had controlled herself better. If only she had _**listen.**_ " She began slowly, "When you coughed blood, we felt hopeless and didn't know what to do. Your body began to crack and glitch as if you were going to explode into pixels after that. We thought that you were going to die, Sans."

She paused to take a moment to breath, calming herself. "But then, through sheer luck, PoH and the others came. They found a way toward where we were trapped and so we brought you back then… and then…"

She felt her sins crawling up her spine, "Then PoH told us all about _**you.**_ "

"…what? about my stash of whoopee cushions? my _**puntastic**_ knock-knock jokes? or my—?" Sans tried to lighten up the mood by changing the subject, but she ignored his jokes and continued on.

"No, Sans. He told us about your… _**conditions.**_ "

"…oh …that one... heh, should've guessed…" Sans smiled weakly.

"You were already suffering enough, yet we… yet we made you… forced you to..." She struggled to find the right words, but gave up and continued, "If only… If only we trusted you more… if only we believed in you…" She looked down and began to shake, "Then—!"

"Then _**WHAT**_?" Sans cut her off; his voice was cold. " _ **WHAT**_ would happen if you trusted me? _**WHAT**_ difference would it make if you two had only believed in me?"

She was stunned silent in both guilt and shame.

She was right. He should blame them for this. If only they trusted him, then he wouldn't have to 'prove his loyalty' by risking his life going into the dungeon. If only they believed in him, then he wouldn't have to suffer through the pain of saving the two people that seemed to hate him so much since _ **day-fucking-one**_.

Sans took a deep breath to lash at her and she prepared for the worst.

Then he spoke,

" _ **I forgive you.**_ "

She widened her eyes in shock; she couldn't believe what Sans had just said. Guilt… It struck her harder than being slammed into a wall of bricks.

But then the words pierced through her already guilt-ridden heart and her tears began to fall. They began to fall harder and thus the tears began to pour.

Feeling sorry, Sans hugged her.

"H-How could you…? _**After all we did to you…**_ how could you f-forgive me just like _**that…**_?!" She whimpered. "It's not f-fair… It's just… not… _**fair!**_ "

And so she wept under the starry sky, safe within the warm embrace of the chubby self-proclaimed skeleton as time began to fly.

* * *

The sun began to shine over the horizon, making way for a whole new day.

Lily rolled around in her sleep and woke up from her slumber with a grunt. She yawned softly, thinking that it was the first time she had ever slept through such a peaceful sleep. However, she felt warm for some reasons, so she opened her eyes and remembered what happened.

She had cried herself to sleep in Sans embrace and now she woke up to see Sans giving her a lap-pillow and his jacket as a blanket.

The realization dawned upon her and she blushed in shock.

Sans was woken up by her movements and began slowly, "morning. did'ja sleep well?" winking at her with a smug look etched on his face.

She couldn't say anything, her face was as red as tomatoes and she was so embarrassed that she _**froze,**_ then—

" _ ***yawn* …**_ Sans? Is that you…? What are you do… ing…?"

It was Tanya.

At first Tanya stared at Sans, then at Lily, then as Sans again. A moment of silence later, Tanya went back inside and as she slowly closed the door behind her, she threw them a sly smirk.

"Good luck!" She thumbed-up at Lily.

Shaking with a steaming red face, she shyly murmured, "I… t's…"

"Eh—?!"

But then her soft murmur suddenly turned into a shout, " **IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THIIIIIIINK!"**

And so she ran inside, leaving Sans lying on the floor of the porch after slapping him so hard that it left a mark.

Instead of feeling pissed, however, he lifted himself up and saw the sun had already risen. He laughed at what just happened with a peaceful happy thought.

 **[i'm home.]**

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_

Surprise, surprise! It's a double chapter!

Hope it wasn't too cringy… I don't like cringe, I love cheese. Mmm, yaaasss, them lovely clichéd cheesy cheese momentz iz deli~iciouz!

Haha, well, I guess that's it for this chapter and—Oh, for those that haven't noticed so far, Sans met the Final Seekers quite long before Kirito met his first guild; I bet you think those dates I wrote meant nothing to you, huh?

But for those that realized it, congrats! Have some internet cookies!

Pointless Trivia aside, I hope you liked this one and please tell me what you think of this chapter in the review, cuz your likes and comments motivate my lazy-ass to actually write something instead of staring at my work-in-progress chapter 10 like a mindless idiot. XD

Welp, without further ado,

See ya next chapt, Capt!

:v /


	10. Another Peaceful Day (Probably)

It was a rather normal day and Sans was once again cooking breakfast for his guild mates early in the morning. The rest were still sleeping, so it wasn't as lively, but, sometimes, Sans enjoyed peaceful moments like these being alone.

In the kitchen, an orchestra of cooking could be heard echoing its beautiful song. The skin of the roasting sausages and egg would hit the hot iron and start to sizzle, releasing a sound of the bubbling oil and an aroma of food seductively dancing on one's sense of smell.

A few minutes later, Sans finished serving the breakfast he cooked and felt a presence right behind him. He turned around to greet whoever it was that had woken up.

"morn—?!"

He saw four hungry savages eyeing the breakfast he made with watery mouth with Lily and Milly standing right behind them with a sweat drop.

"uhh… w-who's up for some egg and sausages?"

* * *

"Uwaa! Sans' cookings are the best!" PoH happily finished his meal.

"was it really that good, tho?"

Raul laughed and complimented the cook, "Of course it was! After all you made it!"

"Mmm-hmm! It's tasty as ever, Sansy~!"

"heh. well, glad to hear, tanya. don't call me sansy."

They enjoyed their morning talking together as Sans went to wash the dishes.

A month, that was how long it had been since that day.

The first and second weeks, Sans had some trouble standing up for too long so he had to stay in bed. It seemed that at that time the ones that were in charge of doing the house chores were the girls and from that he learned the hard way _**not**_ to let Tanya cook.

Members of the guild occasionally took turns to check up on him at the time and he managed to learn a thing or two about each other. It seemed like Raul showed interest in Tanya and vice versa, however both seemed to be equally oblivious toward the signs of each other sharing the same interest.

Sans thought that it was more interesting to watch, so he'd just observe their love lives.

There were also other things that he learned like how Z used to play a guitar in real life and how PoH was a baseball player, however there was a question that seemed to be a taboo to four members of the guild; Raul, Tanya, Z, and PoH.

He would ask them about what happened when he was unconscious and how did they find him with the twins in that trap boss room, but Sans noticed how all of them would flinch and pause before giving him odd and ambiguous replies. Out of the four, PoH seemed to be the only one that was suspiciously calm and less 'twitchy' concerning the subject.

There was something going on, that was for sure, but Sans couldn't sense any ill will from all of them. Maybe something that they didn't want to remember occurs when they were trying to save him and twins.

He could push them for answers, but in the end he thought against it and choose to ignore his curiosity; some things are better left unsaid. All he knew is that they all returned safe and sound and that's all he needed to know.

Anyway, he was fine now. It took a while, but he was back on his feet to help around; that was the least he could do rather than simply be lazy around all the time.

Heh. ' _ **Sans'**_ doing house chores… if this was Undertale, then one could only guess that it's the end of the timeline, he thought to himself.

"so, what're you guys doin' today?"

"Oh, we are going to a meeting with other guilds today. It seemed like they needed a hand in clearing the other dungeons."

"i see…"

"Well, what about you?"

"hmm… don't know. i'll probably go to the town to buy more ingredients."

"Oh, is that so? Do you think you'd need any help?"

"huh? no, it's fi—"

"I-I'll stay and help!" Milly suddenly cut him off.

"… uhh, that won't be necessa—"

"I'll stay here and help." She spoke again with a tone of finality.

 **[what the…?]**

Sans sweat dropped when he saw her eyes that were full of… 'misplaced' determination? Well, it looked like she wasn't going to go anytime soon.

"I-If Milly is staying… t-then, I'll stay here too."

 **[you too, lily?!]**

The rest of the guild silently eyed their sudden change of attitude.

"Why are you all looking at us like that…?" The twins asked.

Most simply shrugged, but Tanya seemed to stare at Lily and Milly for a little bit longer, before giving a thumbs up while winking.

The two blushed in furiously as if saying, 'I-It's not like that!'

"Sorry, Lily, but you can't stay." PoH told her.

"E-Eh? Why not?"

"Well, if the meeting ends well and quick, we're going straight to explore the dungeon a bit so we would need at least one of you as a scout."

"B-but… what about Milly?"

"Milly asked to stay first, so she gets to stay… besides, what's with you today? It's not like you to get worked up over—"

"I-I get it! I get it! I'll go, so let's just go!" She cut him off with a blush on her face, hoping that Sans wouldn't notice her sudden change in attitude; he noticed of course, though he couldn't tell why.

"E-eh? But I haven't had my dessert, yeee…" PoH sensed a dark, ominous aura coming from her and wisely continued, "Y-you're right! Absolutely right! Brilliant idea, let's just go now, shall we!"

And with that PoH and Lily exited the house followed by Raul, Z and Tanya who merely followed with a sweat drop.

After saying their goodbyes, the group of five left, leaving Sans and Milly behind.

 **[welp… now what?]**

"S-So, now what?" She asked with a blush.

 **[that's MY question.]**

"well, i guess i'll clean up the house and take break before going to town."

"C-Can I help?"

"hmm… well sure. i guess you can start by sweeping the floors and moping the floor. don't worry, i'll take care of the rest."

In SAO, there's a system that kept the house clean, however, oddly enough, sometimes the house do get dirty and needed manual labor to clean it all up. Sans didn't really understand, but due to the constant cleaning he had to do every two or three days, he assumed that the system had something to do with the size of the house and the amount of players inhabiting said house as well as how long it is being inhabited.

But, well, that's just a theory… Weird as it may, but Sans applauded this world's psychotic self-proclaimed God for adding such interestingly realistic details.

After half an hour, Milly finished her chores and sat down in the living room to regain her breath.

"heh. tired already?"

"I… I can't believe you do this alone all the time… I think fighting is much easier than cleaning!" She panted.

"the more u do it the more u get used to it." Sans told her with a smile, "welp. i'll take it from here…"

"E-Eh? There's still more to do?!"

"hm? ofc. still gotta make the beds, tidy up here and there, water the flowers and, oh, forgot to mop the ceiling."

"What the—how? _**How?!**_ " She asked in disbelief.

"if spongebob could do it, why couldn't i?"

"You…"

Sans laughed, "welp. since you saw it, then i guess i'll use it again."

"Use what again?"

He grinned and his hands glow bluish, "this."

Suddenly, all of the bedrooms' doors were opened by an invisible force and soon everything inside floated in the air as they were engulfed in the same bluish aura. In mere seconds, the beds were made and the floating pillows and bolsters were back to where they should be. Floating watering cans watered the beautiful orchids and flowers that Tanya had collected from different floors as decorations as various items were neatly return to their rightful places.

Milly was at loss for words, she merely observed Sans in shock and awe; this was the third time she saw him using his power; the second time being Sans trying to get himself a glass of water at that time when he didn't want to move from the bed. She gave him a good scolding that day asking, 'What if it was someone else that saw you?!' considering the fact that Sans was the one asking her to keep this power a secret.

It didn't even take him five minutes and everything was already so clean, he even cleaned the ceiling too.

"welp. done."

"…"

"…what?"

"That's cheating."

"heh. so?"

"Why the heck did I have to sweep and mop the floor if you could've done everything alone with that kind of power?"

"you're the one that wanted to help."

"Ugh, I hate you…" She pouted cutely.

And so Sans laughed as he and Milly sat together on the couch.

Sans looked outside the window and thought about how nice it was to talk like this to her. Usually, she and Lily would just avoid him, but to actually interact like this with at least one of them? It felt nice.

However, despite all that, being as observant as he was, he noticed that Milly and Lily still felt uneasy around him from time to time. In this awkward silence, she fared no better.

"y'know… you could've told them." He started seriously.

"Huh?"

"a month and no one has ever asked me about my powers… about 'what i can do'. not even you or lily." He paused, "you could've told them everything so why didn't you?"

"Of course we didn't tell them, weren't _**YOU**_ the one that asked us not to tell the others in the first place?"

"well… yea, but that doesn't explain—"

"To get even."

"'scuse me?"

"You saved us from dying and we did you a favor by not telling the others so now we're even, okay!"

Sans stayed quiet for a few seconds, but then chuckled, "heh. i guess so, huh." he looked away and scratched his cheek, "thank you. really."

Milly blushed a little, "T-That's right! You should be more grateful, you know!"

Sans chuckled, "oh, fine, then what would you like for dinner, my lady? i'll make a special dinner just. for. you~"

Sans winked at her and she suddenly felt embarrassed. She looked down with a face as red as tomato and muttered, "…P-pasta."

"pasta it is then."

Milly regained her composure by shaking her head and thought of something to talk about, then she remembered something.

"B-By the way, speaking of your power, you promised me an explanation…"

"oh? did i?"

"Sans."

"heh. alright... what do you wanna know?"

"Well… why don't you start with that weird power of yours then?"

Sans wasn't smiling as wide as he normally does, but she didn't seem to notice this, he hesitated. It wasn't his fault; he had spent most of his life here in SAO playing as his favorite character without ever telling anyone about his conditions or powers, so it was only natural for him to hesitate.

Sans sighed in defeat, **[a promise's a promise…]** He smiled again though. Since he was going to tell her a bit about himself, might as well mess around with her for a little bit... maybe he could change the topic.

"well… what about this 'weird power' that you want to know?"

"…You know what I want to know."

"what? do you not know what i know you want to know?"

"Don't make me kill you..."

"heh. geez, chill out would you." **[i guess, i can't avoid it…]** He sighed, "but seriously, be specific. what do you want to know?"

"How about you tell me about how you do it. I meant the telekinesis thing and the bones."

"i can't really tell you _**how**_ to do it, but if i had to describe it… then i'll be as simple as concentrating, imagining, and _**willing**_ my power to manifest."

"That… doesn't make too much sense to me."

" _ **tibia**_ honest with you, me neither, but that's all i got."

She had a tick mark, but calmed herself down.

"Does this… power have anything to do with your condition?"

"depends on what you mean by 'condition'—"

"Sans."

"yes, it does."

"But why would you have that kind of condition? From the way you fought that boss that day… it seemed like you were cheating the whole game."

"cheating?"

"Of course! You are probably the only one with the power to summon something and attack anyone from a distance instead of fighting with swords or other melee weapons, so what's the point of cheating if you put a weakness on yourself?"

"before we start, i'd like to make something clear: i'm not a cheater; as you said, i wouldn't put a limit on myself if i was.

"i don't know why i have this power, but i think it has something to do with the random coding of the cardinal system and it simply programmed me to have power and weakness unlike the others when i was making my avatar."

"The what system?"

"the cardinal system. its what maintains the whole game's existence. you know, like the 'reality's matrix' or something. the whole game is running based on this operation system."

"I'm starting to get pissed by how you're explaining things to me."

Sans flinched and lost his sense of humor for a second, "it's not my fault that i'm stuck in this death game with a power i almost knew nothing of."

Milly widened her eyes, she did not expect such a response.

"I… I'm sorry."

Sans sighed, "no, no, it's just…" He smiled again, "nah, forget it. it's nothing. sorry for giving you half-assed answers, but that's all that i can tell you about it."

After a brief pause, Sans continued, "…i can tell you about the effect of using it though."

"O-Oh, yeah? Well, go on. Tell me."

"every time i use this powers, i get headaches and the more i force myself to use it, the more painful it gets."

"W-Wait, then does that mean that your power depends on how much pain you can endure?"

"in a nutshell, yes. though, if i keep forcing myself to push through my limits… i think you know what would happen."

Milly paused for a few moments trying to guess what would happen, then she remembered how Sans suddenly vomited blood and writhed in pain. Even until now, the scene still haunted her; after all, there wasn't supposed to be any blood in this game, yet Sans seemed to go against most of the rules of this world.

"I-Is that so… Then does being paler than usual is also the effect of using it?"

"huh? what are you talking about?"

"You look paler than you used to be after that day…" She opened her inventory and lent him her mirror, "Here, take a look."

Sans never really cared that much about his appearance, but she was right. He was _**way**_ paler than he used to be. He looked so pale that his skin was almost… gray.

How could he miss that?

Milly saw Sans' puzzled looks.

"I'm guessing you didn't know?"

"no… i didn't."

An awkward silence fell between the two of them then Milly sighed and stood up, "Hey, didn't you say that you needed to go shopping groceries?"

"huh? yeah, but don't you have more questions?"

"From the way you answered, I think you don't really know about your own powers too, don't you? I'm not stupid enough not to realize that, you know."

Sans raised an eyebrow; impressed at her perceptiveness.

"I could ask you more about how you moved so quickly or notice things that are supposedly hard to notice and such, but I don't think this conversation is going anywhere anyway."

Sans stayed silent for a moment, but then chuckled as he stood up.

"W-What's so funny?"

"seems like you're not as young as you seem to be."

At that moment, Milly drew her dagger and slashed at Sans only for Sans to dodge the quick attack purely out of luck and reflex.

" **What did you say~?"** She asked in a disturbing sing-song tone.

Sans was frozen in place when he saw the scary look on her face.

 **Chara, is that you…?**

" **So, what is it, Sans~?"**

"nothing... i-i said, let's go, shall we…?"

She sheathed her dagger and smiled as if nothing happened.

"Alright, let's go! I wanna buy some sweets at the town!"

As she went out of the room, Sans made a mental note; **Never say anything about the twins' age.**

* * *

Sans and Milly were walking together into the town's shopping district. He watched as Milly happily looked around to see various things that were put on sale.

If a month ago Sans told himself that he'd be friends with her and Lily, he probably would've laughed at such bull crap, yet here they are… life is just that strange, he guessed.

Well, calling both of them friends would probably be too much, but either way, he was glad that he and twins were finally getting along. One of the proof was he wasn't being glared at by the two of them silently from the corner of his eyes.

Anyway, the two of them were still looking for ingredients until eventually a medieval boutique caught Milly's eyes. She insisted—no, _**persuaded**_ Sans to go there.

Sans sweat dropped and reminded himself to be careful around this Tsun-slash-Yandere Girl.

"Uwaa! So many clothes!"

"…we're here to buy food, tho." Sans' sweat dropped.

"Oh, please, it's not like you're paying for it. Just let me take a look for a whi—Ooh! What do you think about this one, Sans?"

She showed Sans one of the dresses that she took.

"hmm… i don't know."

"Huh? What do you mean you don't know?"

"well, i've never understood the fashion industry, those people are so _**clothes**_ minded."

"…I'll hurt you."

"heh. pls, don't"

She put the clothes back and looked around again, she found another one that looked good and went to the changing room to equip it.

"Hey, Sans, what about this one?"

He turned around and there he saw her. She wore a blue medieval-styled outfit that really complimented her body sizes. Sans was never really a fan of fashion, but he could see that the clothes she chose really brings out the color of her blue eyes and hair; she looked really, really cute.

 _ **(A/N: If you're curious look up these exact keywords in google images, "ocono blue hair." It's the second result, the one with white flower on her head, except imagine her chest to be smaller.)**_

Sans was at loss for words.

"Well? What do you think?"

"i-it's, uhh… very cute?"

She widened her eyes and blushed a little at the word 'cute', Sans rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment as he said so.

She giggled at Sans' reaction, glad that she successfully surprised him.

"Well, I guess I'll take this one, then~"

And so she paid for the clothes and equipped it.

"Come one, Sans! Let's buy those groceries, you were looking for!"

Sans noticed that she was walking happily with a light skip in each of her steps. He smiled and followed her.

"heh. you know, i never thought i'd see such a girly side of you."

"W-Wha—What's that supposed to mean?! I _**am**_ a girl, you know!"

"heh, sorry. welp, shall we?"

With that the two of them went continued on their errands together.

* * *

Time seemed to fly when one search and buy. The two of them had spent the day walking around the town looking for various ingredients enough to last the guild for a month.

Now, Sans was sitting on the river bank, enjoying the nature around him as he watched the setting sun on the horizon.

As told before, Sans was always thankful for peaceful times like these being alone. It gave him some time adjusting to his situation and thinking about things. What is this 'situation' you ask? Well, as you probably know, Sans' enhanced senses ( _ **spidey senses**_ ) is a double-edged sword.

He closed his eyes and he could hear every sound around him in utmost detail. He could hear the sound of birds flying over him, the sound of river flowing in front of him and the wind upon the grass around him; you'd think that it was normal, except for the fact that he could differentiate each individual chirps of the bird and sound of flaps of their wings, the detailed sound of water flowing down the river and the scratching sound of wind grazing the surface of each individual grass.

Everything was so loud it was giving him a headache.

Not only that he could feel everything so clearly. He could feel the wind upon his skin and the grass he was sitting on. If he was any lesser man, he would've scream due to the fact that the wind felt like sandpaper and the grass made him felt like he was sitting on a bunch of toothpicks; didn't he thought about these things before? Hmm, déjà vu…

Anyway, not only that he could also smell better. Yes, he could smell the water from the river, the fresh grass around him, and the smell of dog poo from a far—no, wait… _**eww!**_

 **[damn you and your realistic details kayaba!]**

Life is dick sometimes.

However, soon the horrid smell was replaced with one that was delicious. The smell was sweet and crispy accompanied with a fresh fragrance of a familiar berry. It was growing stronger and Sans opened his eyes.

"took you long enough."

"Hey, it wasn't my fault that line was very long!"

"heh. sure." He motioned to her to sit down beside him, which she complied.

"Ah, here you go! I bought you some strawberry crepes too!"

"oh, thank you. you didn't have to."

"No problem, it's my treat."

A peaceful silence fell between the two as they watched the setting sun together. Sans didn't say anything, but he noticed that Milly was tensing up to something then she began.

"Beautiful, isn't it? The sun."

He took a moment to admire the fake big ball of fire hanging on the horizon.

"it sure is."

Silence fell once more and Milly called out to him, "Sans,"

"hm?"

"What… what do you think about this world?"

Sans stayed quiet for a moment and glanced at her, she was watching the sunset with an expression full of longing.

"heh. that's not an easy question, you know. gotta be more specific than that."

"I-It's fine! Just answer the question, geez!"

"well, then, what do you think?"

"H-Huh?"

"what do _**you**_ think about this world?"

She looked down and answered, "If I have to say it, then I think this world is a prison."

"a prison?"

"Yes, a prison. All we wanted to do was play together with our friends and spend time to have fun, but then everything went wrong and Kayaba Akihiko now forced us to live here and fight against our consent… that's what I think about this world."

Sans glanced at her emotionless expression.

"then what do you think about being in the guild?"

"What do you mean?"

"is it fun?"

"Well, it is, but…"

A pregnant silence fell between them and Sans gave her his answer.

"you asked me what do i think about this world, well, here's what i think: this world…"

She listened closely and waited for him to continue.

"this world is a field trip."

"…What?"

"you heard me. a field trip."

"No, I heard you the first time, but, why a field trip?!"

Sans chuckled at her look of disbelief and sighed, "tell me, what exactly is a field trip?"

"It's… a journey to a place to learn and do stuffs, make some new friends or perhaps find someone to love, isn't it?"

"that's right. now, if there's a school field trip and all student must go, do you think all of them will be happy to go?"

"Well… no. I bet some of them only go on the trip because the school says so."

"you're right and in a field trip, does everyone always has a partner?"

She frowned in confusion, not understanding why Sans was asking these questions, "Usually, but I guess, sometimes, one or two would go on without a partner and be left alone until the rest of the trip…"

"exactly. and for the last question, despite going on this field trip with or without your consent, don't you think that most places for field trips are beautiful?"

"That's… correct, but what's the point of asking me these questions? You're not answering mine."

Sans chuckled, "W-What's so funny?!"

"do you not realize that this world is the same?"

She widened her eyes and realized what it all meant. Sans noticed that she understood what he meant and smiled at the sunset.

"this world… it's forced upon us by kayaba, but no one could argue that everything looks so beautiful. this world is different from the ones we came from and there's so many things to learn and work hard for here. There are people here who chose to fight alone, but most chose to fight together so we can all escape and be free together.

"we're all having a journey of a lifetime here; a journey to another world. we meet new people, make new friends and some found the love of their lives here.

"it's true that we are all trapped here and could die at any moment, but how is that any different with real life? i mean, just because this world might be bad doesn't mean we can't enjoy it right?"

Sans looked sideways to see how she reacted, Milly was staring at him with wide eyes. She looked down and suddenly began to snap.

"How could you… how could you say that after all that happened to all of us? Why would you say that we should enjoy being trapped in this… this _**prison**_?!"

Sans frowned, not understanding where this conversation was leading to, "hey, i'm only giving you my honest answer, calm down—"

"Calm down? Calm down?! How can I calm down, when I almost got us _**killed**_ that day, Sans! I've been regretting my actions ever since that day and here you are calling such an event a mere 'journey' in this world? A _**field trip**_ even?!"

Sans stayed quiet as he watched Milly began to cry, she told him about everything that she hated from herself, like how she was such a hothead, or untrusting, and how she caused trouble for everyone.

It may sound a bit cruel, but he kind of liked seeing her like this. Not the crying part, though, what he liked was the part of he had just learned right now; Milly was really bad at apologizing. Honestly, it was so bad that it was kind of funny to watch that in fact, it was kind of cute in some way.

 **[heh. and it even took you a month 'til you finally say it…]**

Tears were falling freely from the side of her face and after a few good minutes of crying and Sans thought that it was enough.

Sans reached forward and gave her a hug. She widened her eyes at the sudden gesture, "that's enough, milly. it's okay, now. _**i forgive you.**_ "

She was left speechless. Once again, Sans was being unreasonable. She knew that Sans had every right to hate her and to blame her for what happened, yet here he was saying that he forgave her for everything that she did.

Instead of feeling happy, she only felt more guilt as she buried herself more into Sans' embrace.

"H-How could you… _**How could you be so kind...?!**_ "

"i told you, didn't i? this world is a field trip. a journey filled with danger and adventure. it's true that things could've gone better than what happened, but…" Sans smiled and hugged her a little harder, "i'm glad. i'm glad that you were such a hothead and almost got us killed, because if you weren't, then… we wouldn't be here like this together, so that's why, please don't cry. i forgive you."

Hearing those magic words of consolation, she hugged him back harder and whispered with a smile, "Thank you."

The sun had already set and dusk was slowly turning into night. Time seemed to stop as the two were locked in a warm embrace, but then Sans chuckled.

"y'know, your sister asked me the same thing when she apologized. about the 'how can i be so kind part' or so i think."

"S-She a-apologized too? No way… I thought I'm the first…"

"well, you're one month late, so…"

"S-Shut up…"

Suddenly, the long peaceful silence was broken by a voice—

"Sans, is that you? Hey, Sans! What are you doing the—?"

—It was PoH and the others and, for a moment, all of them had the same reaction.

" _ **Oh...**_ " they all said in unison.

An awkward silence filled the air and Lily was left agape, as Tanya squealed like a little girl. Sans' pupils disappeared and he had a sudden urge to test his teleportation, but to prevent some major brain damage, he decided against it.

However, he should have just risked it, because he could feel Milly twitching disturbingly in his hug. She didn't say anything for a few second and that's what scared him. Cold sweat began to pour out of him.

 **He should have teleported when he had the chance.**

"D-DON'T TOUCH MEEE!"

Milly punched Sans so hard he was thrown into the river as the rest of the boys simply stared in shock. Then Sans floated back up and went with the flow of the river.

Good to know that the Town's Safe Zone's HP-Reduction Protection worked on him.

* * *

After having dinner, Sans noticed that Milly was avoiding direct eye contact with Sans; blushing as she did so especially when he made her the pasta that she wanted. This, however, was why Lily was glaring daggers at him since they were at the river.

If glares could actually deal damage, then she would've killed him a hundred thousand times over by now.

For some reason, she was the only one that wanted to stay as the others went back to their rooms, but Milly had another plan in mind; she hid near the corridor to eavesdrop on Sans' and Lily's conversation.

" **Sans,** " Lily's spoke with a commanding voice.

"y-yes?"

"Go… with…" She murmured.

"uh, what was that?"

"I-I said, go out on a date with me too, next time." She asked bashfully.

"huh…?" It took him a few moments to realize that he heard everything clearly, " _ **HUH?!"**_

"You went on a date with Milly today, didn't you?"

"b-but it wasn't a date—!" Sans paused when he tried to remember the event he experienced today; **technically speaking, it was a date.** "…oh…" **On second thought, yea** **, it totally was a date.**

"So, it's o-okay, right—?"

Milly suddenly showed herself, "N-No, you can't!"

"…How long have you been there?"

"That's not important, what's important is you can't go with him!"

"Why?"

"Eh? B-Because… uhh, because…" Milly tried to come up with an answer, but the more she thought about it, the more embarrassed she became, "Ugh, you just can't okay!"

"Oh? Well, who's going to stop me?"

"I-Is that a challenge, sis?"

"What if it is?"

The two drew their daggers.

"h-hey, calm down, will y—?"

" **Stay out of this.** " the two told him in unison.

Sans froze in fear comically, as the twins lunged at each other and began their fight. Sans was just standing there with confused expression and a sweat drop.

 **[…what the heck is going on?]**

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Yo, what's up! I know it's too late, but Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everybody! Thank for staying with me for so long and I hope you like this chapter!

It's a classic, but I made Milly to be a tsundere and Lily to be a possessive-kuudere or something. Not sure. Meh, either way, I hope the romcom wasn't too cringy.

God, now that I think about it, there's bound to be mistakes here and there despite me already proof reading this over three times… I hope it doesn't turn out to be that bad. Oh well, whatever...

Welp, see ya next chapt, Capt!

:v /


	11. Interlude: A Mother's Lament

_**[How long has it been?]**_ A woman asked herself. Hands upon her mouth as she silently prayed in anxiousness.

She was sitting in a clean white room with a large one-sided mirror was right in front of her and through it was a pale, skinny boy surrounded by a doctor, a surgeon and their fellow assistants.

"Patient's losing too much blood doctor! We have to operate on his head immediately!" the Surgeon spoke in urgence.

"You can't do that, doctor! Cutting him off from the Nerve Gear in ANYWAY would absolutely kill him!" One of the Assistants argued.

"But what choice do we have?! If we cut him off he dies, if we leave him he may also die! We might as well _**euthanize**_ him for God's sake!" They argued on as the Doctor fell silent.

Louder did the heart-rate monitor beeped then the woman who watching broke into a weep. The woman widened her eyes in despair as she went over toward the glass.

The machine beeped faster and everyone began to panic, "Heart-rate's decreasing! Pulse is slowing down!" It beeped and beeped and kept on beeping faster and louder until eventually...

 **The line fell flat as the echo came into a halt.**

 _ **[No... No...! Not him too! Please, not him too!]**_ Her rivers of tears fell onto the floor as despair gripped at her heart, forced to watch everything without being able to do anything.

"He's not breathing, _**he's not breathing!**_ "

"Patient's suffering cardiac arrest! Somebody get the defibrillator running!"

"Defibrillator's set to 100 joules. _**CLEAR!**_ " The boy's chest jumped at the sudden jolt of electricity. The monitor beeped twice, but it the line fell flat again.

"Responses are weakening, zap him again!"

"Defibrillator's set to 110 joules. _**CLEAR!"**_ The body jumped again and the machine beeped a few more times before once again falling into a flat line.

And so the woman watched in utter powerlessness as the boy struggled to cling unto life even in his unconsciousness. She couldn't think, she couldn't scream. She cried in worry as she kept muttering words between her sobs. She said she was sorry, she begged for God not to take him away, but there was nothing that she could do now.

Nothing, but cry and pray that he would be safe; the boy was now at the mercy of death himself.

She closed her eyes, but her tears never stopped falling. She closed her ears and tried to lie to herself that everything was okay, that everything was just a bad dream.

But she knew it wasn't; for truth was a cruel thing and it was taking all the hopes she had left in her. She didn't want to accept it, but she knew it was happening.

The boy would die and she would left all alone and—

"H-HE'S BACK!"

She opened her eyes, hope filling her once despairing heart.

"We're getting steady responses! It's weak, but it's there!"

"My God... _**He wants to live**_."

"Give him one last jolt!"

"Setting defibrillator to 100 joules! _**CLEAR!**_ "

And with one last shock, the line fell flat and just like that, the woman's very last hope was shattered like dust in the wind.

She stood there motionless, not believing the cold-harsh truth. With the last of her strength, she whispered one last prayer.

 **"Please, don't... die!"  
**  
Silence fell and everyone in the surgery room grimaced. The doctors and nurses turned toward the one-side view mirror and, as if piercing through it with sharp guilty and shameful eyes, they bowed.

"We're sorry—"

It was then the machine suddenly beeped once. Then it beeped again and again and again until it echoed within the room and, eventually, everybody realized... that the boy was still alive; that even in his unconscious form, his mind trapped within the horrible helmet on his very head, the boy didn't want to die.

The woman cried once more as her legs gave out and tuned out the world around her. The nurses and doctors frantically returned to then to their patient, but she couldn't hear it over the huge surge of relief that was flooding her heart. She knelt on the floor as tears of joy fell from her cheeks, an ever so grateful smile etched on her face.

Her prayers were answered and Death had shown his mercy of the boy's soul.

And so she wept in gladness and relief, her sobs echoed throughout the white and lonely room for her son... was given a chance to live once more.

* * *

"-We can't risk losing his life if we were to damage the Nerve Gear in anyway if we were to operate him and so we decided not to operate him and, as you can see, his condition is stabilizing." The doctor told the woman as she sat right beside her son's bed.

" **Thank you** , Doctor. Thank you, for saving my son!" She bowed.

"No, no, please. You don't have to bow, madam. It's my job to save your son as does saving the other victims of SAO and patients." The Doctor modestly replied.

"And still, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you, Doctor."

"You're welcome, madam. Now, if you would kindly excuse me, I have other patients to attend to." The doctor replied with a smile and so he left the woman her son alone in the room.

As soon as the doctor left the room, the woman turned her attention toward the boy's malnutritioned figure.

His skin looked sickly and was as pale as the snow in winter breeze now as opposed to his previous healthy looks months ago. His hair also grew longer and there were hints of beard and mustache starting to grow around his mouth and chin.

But that was not what she was worried about, what worried her was the fact that his eyes was closed; that he was still trapped in this death game called Sword Art Online for God knows how long. She took her sons' hand in hers and felt the hint of coldness that his hand possessed, this hurt her even more.

"I'm sorry, Mizuki... I'm so, so sorry..." She began slowly as a single tear fell from the corner of her eye. "If only I was a better mother... If only I gave you the attention you deserved… If only I realized how much you truly mean to me until… Oh, Mizuki… **I'm so, so sorry…!** "

She had heard it before; that some unfortunate victims trapped within SAO's heart rate would suddenly fall into a flat line; that dying within this accursed game meant death in real life.

She held on to his cold hand and muttered her apologies over and over, even though she knew that he couldn't hear it and thought of it only hurt her very deeply, especially considering the fact that one day, he too might fall into a flat line and he would never be able to hear her apology.

Right now, at this very moment, even if her son would suddenly wake up due to some miracle and didn't accept her apology out hatred, she didn't care.

All she cared about was that his heart was still beating and that she hoped that it would stay like so until the day he wakes up.


	12. Today Was A Good Day

_White was the world around him and a series of laughter echoed from a distant._

 _Under the shades of a lonely tree, a young little boy sat there all alone hugging his knees. The boy couldn't have been older than six years old._

 _ **How lonely**_ _, he thought to himself as he watched multiple silhouettes of children playing a bit far from him, having fun under the sun in this lonely, white world._

 _He hugged his knees tighter as he closed his saddened eyes, whispering a wistful dream._

 _ **If only there was someone out there who would love me**_ _, he whispered._

 _And so the lonely boy sat there silently in peace, but soon he could hear the echoing laughter approached. However, the laughter was…_ _ **different**_ _than the one he heard from a far; it was filled with malice._

 _He didn't like it… and yet, he slowly lifted his gaze and what he saw struck fear deep into his heart. Those cruel smiles… those hateful eyes... their malevolent laughter echoed ever so loudly, so much that it started to hurt._

" _ **Stop,"**_ _he cried out, yet no voice came out._ _ **"Stop!"**_ _he begged those merciless silhouettes, yet the laughter didn't stop._

 _He closed his ears with his hands and shut his eyes as he began to cry, yet the painful voices echoed louder and much more painful as his cries merely came out as nothing more than voiceless pleas._

 _The silhouettes hated him; they sneered and insulted him, tormenting him with their merciless, wicked words, the boy was left powerless to stop it and alone to suffer a pain that he unfairly received._

 _Then suddenly…_ _ **it all stopped.**_

 _Gone were the painful echoes and so was the malicious aura around him. The silhouettes disappeared and he was once again left alone under that shady tree._

 _In curiosity, he slowly opened his eyes and looked up and he was met with a familiar girl who seemed a few years older than him. She looked deep into his eyes and then gave him one of the warmest smiles he had ever seen. All those fear and loneliness and pain… all of those negative emotions disappeared the moment he saw her smile._

 _She spoke something to him and offered her hand, but he couldn't hear what she told him much like how his voice disappeared._

 _It didn't matter. Whatever she told him… it calmed him down brought warmth into his heart._

 _He smiled at his savior and reached forward to take her hand, but the moment he touched her hand…_ _ **everything changed.**_

 _Everything around him turned into pitch black and everything above him turned into bloody, crimson red. The echoes came back and gave him a headache so painful he wished he was dead. The darkness rose from below and was devouring everything around him._

 _And who stood in front of him was undoubtedly the same person, but there was something different about her that disturbed him._

 _Yes, that's right…_

 _ **Her eyes turned black as a frightening smile was etched on her face with fresh blood pouring out of her eyes, mouth and a hole on her chest.**_

 _He felt more eyes staring at him with hatred, malice, suspicion, and disgust from the darkness around him as he his breathing turned erratic. Cold sweat poured out of his body as the darkness kept on devouring the world around him and before he knew it;_

 _He was staring at the girl's lifeless face,_

 **T͉̭̘̯̈́̏͆̄̅͛̒̇̏͜͡ͅH̥͍̟͐̒͒͗̕̚͞͡ͅͅȊ̴̧̮̬̦̯̌̅̔̒̔͆͋͜͟S̴͈̩̮͎̺̝͇̞̻̩̋͊́̄͘͡͡ Ȉ̶̛̱͚̩̰̣̲̬̈́̅͒S̶̡̟͇͈͈̼̠̘͔̀̋̔̒͑͘͝͠͠ A͓̖̞͈̻̝͙͖͊̔̑̆͆ͅL̞̘̯̜͓̇̉̀͗̊̔̚̕L̢̡͈͎̭̺̊̄̿̈́̽̎ Y̷̧̫̘͓̮͍̲̲̽̅̉̈́͗͜O̶̙̙̣̼̻̰͚̟̫͆̅̀͆̕Ų̶̫̘͓̣͓͍̮̈͐̊̋̋͆̆́͢R͉̼̥̳̣̬̗͒̅̿̚͢͞ F̶̛͓̘̥̻͛̎̍́̃̄͌͂̚͢ͅA̛͕͓͓̪̮̯̙̎̊̽̑͢U̧̹͙̩̤̪̳͓͔͌̽̊͗̈͆͑͆̚L̴̢̗̙͚̲̪̱͂̽̓̓͞Ṯ̶̡̛̫̩̩̟̪̇̄̌̓̐̑͞**

* * *

Calmly opening his eyes, Sans sat up as cold sweat poured out of his body. He felt a sudden sharp twinge of pain and grasped his forehead as he put on a grimace.

He looked around and realized that he fell asleep on the sofa had just woken up from his nightmares. Upon remembering that everyone else was still on a week long expedition above the tenth floor, he sighed in relief; he didn't want anybody to see him like this. Ever.

"gotta watch where i sleep, huh…? wonder if that's your message, big sis…" He asked out loud to no one in particular. He laughed bitterly, "heh… i afraid i'm getting used to this… oh well..."

He turned his gaze outside and saw sunlight shining through the window as a faint sound of chirping was heard coming from outside. He opened his menu and saw that he was a part of this guild.

Looking back, it seemed rather random that a person he 'saved' asked him to join him in his guild rather than the other way around. He chuckled to himself, feeling a little nostalgic.

He kept staring at the Guild section then saw how he only had two friends in his friend list; Klein and PoH. It was then Sans suddenly realized how dumb he was, **[ah. after all this time… i forgot to add them all as friends...]**

Well, it was understandable really. As friends you can see each other's names and health and stamina points. You can also see their locations and statuses like if they are in a party or not, or if they are in the middle of combat or not. Sans wanted to hide these information as much as he could so it became a bad habit of not adding people into his friend list.

It is safe to say that the friend list system is a system that you are supposed to give to people you truly trust as friends.

Oh, well, it's not like Sans cared. It wasn't as if he didn't see the rest of the Final Seekers as friend, but it's more along lines of he forgot and he was too lazy to add them to a friend list. He was rather reluctant in being 'friends' with PoH, but it was on one night long ago that Sans decided to accept and explained it to him; after all, that's why only he knew of Sans status glitch.

Sans never told him anything about his power though, since it's not like he was going to go out and risk his life playing hero, beat monsters, and get erased by the Cardinal System for being a glitch.

 **[oh yeah… sans mentioned that the cardinal system recognized my nerve gear malfunction and utilized it into this power based on memories… does that mean that i'm safe to use it now without fear of getting erased by the system correction program? hmm… i'm not going to take the risk for now...]**

Anyway, his power aside, being a guild member has a similar function to being friends, however since it is possible for there to be strangers among a guild you cannot see who is who and how much HP or SP each other have; the names and statuses of the members are listed in the guild members' list though. You can, however, see their location if you were in the same floor.

In a sense, being the guild member system works like an acquaintance list compared to the friend list system.

After pondering, he sighed to himself, **[doesn't change the fact that i'm still not 'friends' with them… oh well, i'll do that when they get back in the evening.]**

Sans stood up, "welp. gotta make a feast for their return."

And for a moment, Sans frowned, asking himself a question, **[Why do I feel like something's going to happen…?]**

* * *

 **11** **th** **Floor: Taft**

* * *

The town of Taft was full of life. The Clearers, players who fight on the front line to beat dungeon and bosses, were in this clear streak where they rapidly cleared the floors despite only been playing for a few months.

It was no exaggeration that beating the first floor's boss boosted up the morale of the players trapped in the game by a lot.

Right now, you can see a lot of players walking around every floor; grinding levels, fighting dungeons, exploring for treasures, clearing hidden quests. Even the non-combatants took the opportunity to become info-brokers, merchants, blacksmiths, etc. to help.

"However, there were some… _**disturbing**_ rumors lately…" A young man told PoH and the rest of the Final Seekers in a pub.

"What it is?"

The man seemed nervous, but after looking around, he leaned forward and whispered, "Rumors that some parties were disappearing."

Everybody flinched and Raul thought out loud in a venomous tone, "Player Killers… huh?"

The man nodded grimly, "Yes. There are rumors that they even created small parties of player killers due to different reason… some did it to survive, some did it out of spite, and some did it out of the delusional thought that dying in game was a lie and by dying we actually returned to real life…"

"I-Isn't that bad?" Tanya asked, feeling rather disturbed.

"Bad? Oh, there are worse, Miss. For example… those committed to kill players _**just for**_ _**fun**_."

Disgust was evident on the faces of the Final Seekers and the young man sighed, "I'm sorry, as I've said before, it's a disturbing rumor."

"Ah, no, no, it's fine. That information alone helps us." PoH smiled.

"Oh, I see," the man then smiled, "But still, I don't think that such information and this meal are enough to repay all of you. You saved me when I was in a pinch in that forest after all. God knows what could've happened to me if you didn't come to kill those monsters."

"It's okay, sir. These are enough to repay that favor. Isn't it, big bro?" Z asked, turning to PoH.

"Yes, it is," PoH replied, "Anyway, thank you, but we have to get going."

"Oh, I see. Mister PoH?"

"Yes?"  
"Since you said that you and your party are in an expedition, then may I suggest going to the eastern side of the floor's dungeon? It is rumored that finding the Dungeon Boss' room so quickly in the 11th floor Dungeon was a coincidence, so there are still so many places to explore in that dungeon… who knows, you and your companions, might find a treasure or two!"

"Oooh! Is that true? Then I guess, we're going to make sure we got 'em then, haha!" PoH's and the rest' faces brightened up after hearing that, "How did you know these rumors, anyway?"

The man smirked, "The line between being merchants and info-brokers are thin after all, you know~! One has to be careful giving and receiving information after all."

They all laughed and bid their farewells as they exited the pub, however there were two familiar faces that didn't laugh nor smile the whole time.

"Lily… Milly… do you really need to be that cold?"

"It's not our fault." Lily crossed her arms.

"Yeah. I don't trust that guy, at all." Milly crossed her arms too.

PoH sighed at their stubborn antics toward strangers. Honestly, the phrase, _'My parents told me not to talk to strangers,'_ fits them and their small and young stature… if only not for the fact that all of them knew that both twins are already studying in a university.

"The food was great, but as I expected, Sans' cooking is the best after all," Tanya sighed.

Raul flinched, "I-I can cook too, you know!"

Tanya giggled and pinched his cheek, "I know~"

Raul blushed and simply stared at the woman who walked past him then his attention shifted toward the rest of the four members who was staring at them in pure disgust.

"W-What…?"

"…Normalfag/…Disgouple (Disgusting couple)/…Go die normies/…Pathetic."

The rest of them walked past him to follow Tanya toward the dungeon, while Raul could only sweat drop.

* * *

"HAAAH!" Raul lunges forward and swung his great sword to cut a giant mantis into two. Then a golem dashed forward and swung their giant fist at Raul, but he was prepared, "Swith!"

"On it!" In quick succession, Tanya switched with Raul and blocked the attack with her shield and counterattacked with her hammer attack. The golem staggered backward, but then two goblins ran forward in an attempt to surprise attack their opponents.

Sadistically smiling as if their victory upon killing the team's tanker was secured, they thought wrong.

"Alright, now!" PoH commanded. He and Z switched with Tanya and parried the goblins' attacks, then Lily and Milly sprinted forward and lunged forward for a combination of their diagonal slash attack, cutting through the two goblins and the golem behind it in a X-like pattern, killing them as they broke into tiny pixels.

Everyone cheered after their little victory while PoH did a cool pose, "Hmph. _**Just as planned!**_ "

Breaking the cool atmosphere, Z sweat dropped, "Big bro… what's up with that pose?"

"E-Eh? Uh… This is—"

Raul face palmed and hit the top of Z's head lightly, "Z, it's rude to interrupt a man's cool moment. It's a common knowledge in the VR Bro Code, you know."

"Oh, right. Big bro's trying to act cool, got it. Sorry for interr—"

PoH's face reddened in embarrassment, "A-Alright, alright, I'll stop! Shut up, already!" After sharing a series of laugh, they continued, going deeper to explore the eastern side of the tower dungeon.

As they walked, Lily suddenly stopped dead on her tracks and immediately looked back.

"What's wrong?" Milly asked.

"Just a moment ago…"

"Huh?"

She took a moment to scan her surrounding, but then shook her head, "…No, it's nothing. It must've been my imagination."

"Is that… so… well, then let's go. We're falling behind!"

"Alright, alright."

And so they continued on their way forward.

* * *

From the darkness echoed a laugh.

"Aha~! She almost saw you~!" teased a robed figure to its comrade.

"Tch. Shut up. I know what I'm doing and they didn't see shit!"

Another one cut through their bickering, "Alright, alright, break it up. Don't wanna get loud enough for our _**guests**_ to hear, now do we?"

"Mmm… I don't know, I like it more when they know that they are being watched." A new voice joined.

The robed figures chuckled sadistically, "Have fun, adventurers. Soon, we're going to give you your _**warm welcome!**_ "

* * *

The Final Seekers went on forward and fought like they always have been. Lily and Milly would scout ahead and report, Raul would agro the monsters with Tanya prepared to switch in if necessary and PoH would think of a strategy and provide offensive or defensive support with Z.

All in all, it seemed like nothing is impossible for the solid team that was roaming around this dungeon—

"Ugh, this is impossible!" Z groaned in frustration.

—or so one would thought.

"We've been going around meeting dead-ends, with no clear hints about whether or not there are any treasures around, big bro!"

PoH sighed, "That's why it's called, ' _treasure hunting'_ MegaZ360."

"Hahaha, don't look so down, Z! In a few hours, we'll be back home and I bet Sans would've prepared a feast for us!" Raul tried to cheer him up.

"Ah, yeah, that's right! I hope there'll be puddings! Isn't that right Lily, Milly?" Tanya thought out loud.

The twins nodded in unison, "Puddings are a must for puddings are love. Puddings are life. Praise the pudding lord, Sans!"

"Oh my Pudding Lord, do I praise!" the tanker exclaimed enthusiastically.

The boys chuckled in amusement as the girls giggled between themselves and PoH said, "You girls and your sweets… if you're not careful, you're gonna get fat you… know…?"

A powerful black aura erupted from the three girls standing in front of him, their bloodshot eyes staring at him in pure hatred and killing intent.

" **What… did you say…?"** They asked as if daring PoH to say that again.

Cold sweat poured out of his body and he turned to the two boys behind him, but they merely put on a look of pity and they stared at each other as if having a telepathic conversation.

'Y-You'd leave me in dire times such as this?!'

'You dug your own grave and for that we'll pray for your peace.'

'H-How could you forsake me! I trusted you!"

'There is nothing we could do. We're sorry.'

Praying to whatever deity up there, he desperately tried to find a way to save himself and so he found one that was worth a shot, "A-A-AH! T-That's right! I found another path in the map! We might find something there if we hurry so let's go!"

The aura darkened and PoH submitted to his fate.

"Is that so? I guess, we should." Tanya replied.

"Hm. It'd be bad if we return without any good news for Sans." Lily agreed.

"Well, then, Leader, show us the way and we'll scout ahead." Milly asked PoH as she stretched her legs.

The leader of the guild stood there with a confused look, "E-Eh? Ah, yeah, it's that way…"

"Alright, let's go sis! I'll race you!"

"Geez, Milly, wait up!"

And so the girls moved forward and the other two boys saluted the confused PoH. Realizing what happened, he began to cry tears of joy and fist pumped.

 **DEATH AVERTED!**

* * *

The team encountered a path filled with lots of monsters ahead and thinking that perhaps they'll find something there, they moved forward and began their attack. After a few minutes, they cleared up almost every monsters and one could see that Tanya was struggling from four treants' attacks in their last fight.

"Ugh—Switch!"

Raul jumped forward and dealt a large horizontal slash, killing one while leaving the rest with low HP. At that moment, the three treants focused their attacks at Raul, but it was their mistake to line up perfectly from side to side. Seizing the opportunity, Z dashed to the side and used his spear skill to pierce through all three treants, causing the wooden monsters to break into million pixels.

A congratulatory song echoed, it seemed that Z and Raul have leveled up to LV. 24 and LV. 26 respectively. The two high-fived and the rest of the team congratulated the two players.

"Alright! Great job, Z!"

"You too, Raul!"

Lily and Milly scouted ahead and came back to report,

Lily began, "Leader, it's another dead end, but—"

"We found cracks in the wall and found out that it leads to a secret room!" Milly interjected in enthusiasm, feeling happy that after hours of fighting and exploring, they finally found something.

"Oh, is that so? It seems like today is our lucky day!" PoH laughed and checked his inventory and saw that their health potions are running low. He thought about something, but then came to a decision. "Okay, guys, we're running out of potions, so let's get into that room at the end of the corridor and get whatever inside that room. Then, we'll end our expedition and return to the town with our crystals."

"Hmm, what if there's nothing in that room, Winnie?" Tanya asked.

"Well… guess it wouldn't be our lucky day then. Besides, we've been exploring this dungeon so much and we haven't met any other players, so I bet info-brokers or merchants would want to buy our map for a good price since I think we're one of the first ones to actually explore this floor's dungeon.

"Worst case scenario is the map doesn't worth anything and there are no treasures, but at the very least we've acquired so many materials to sell or use."

Everyone nodded in understanding and they walked toward the end of the room where they could see hidden cracks on the side of the wall, "Alright, then. Let's go see what we have in this room, shall we?" Raul said enthusiastically as he opened the secret passage and ran inside.

"H-Hold on, Raul! Oi!" PoH called out.

"UOOO!" Raul suddenly yelled from inside.

"What's wrong, Raul?! Are you ok—?"

The rest of the guildmates ran inside and what they saw shocked them.

"W-we hit the **JACKPOT**!"

In front of them was no longer a room that looks like that of a dungeon's. With floors and walls made of white marble, similar white pillars stood tall on the sides of the room as magnificent statues that decorated the room. It was like being inside of a Greek pantheon.

However, not only was the room so stunning to see, but there was also something else that took the group by surprise; it was the mountains of gold and chest lying at the end of the room.

"W-wow," Tanya breathed out in amazement, "What… is this place?"

"It's so white and beautiful!" Milly spoke out loud as Lily nodded in agreement as she looked around the room in wonder.

Not being the artistic type, Z said, "Never mind that, look at those gold, big bro!"

"Let's go swim in that gold, Z! We're rich now!" Raul ran toward it as Z followed suit.

PoH stared at how happy the team was. After fighting for days, finally, they found what they were looking for. Today was a good day—

It all happened so fast.

The door suddenly closed shut and the room darkened. Then eerie red light lightened up the room and gone was the illusion of the pantheon that they once saw. An alarm blared as a machine-like voice echoed,

 **"INTRUDER ALERT. INTRUDER ALERT. INITIATING COUNTER MEASURES. DEPLOYING UNITS."**

In bright blue light, monsters suddenly appeared one after another. Golems, goblins, treants, dire boars, almost every monster they encountered earlier appeared in great numbers.

Dread swam in the pit of their stomach.

However, instead of freezing in shock, PoH cursed under his breath and shouted his first command, **"BATTLE FORMATION!"**

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

* * *

To **Fox McCloud:**

If you search to google images under the key words, "sans human," that is more or less how I depict Sans, except that he has a black hair and that he is more chubby and, of course, shorter and he'll stay like this until the end of the game. A little **SPOILER ALERT** is that Sans is still growing up and due to malnutrition of being trapped inside the Nerve Gear, he'll eventually lose his weight and I did mention that he is younger than most characters here (despite sounding older, etc.) but eventually he'll grow into those "handsome" human sans. I even have a reason to change his hair color, but that's for the future.

More or less, **Sans look like the chubby version of this black-haired guy from pinterest** " **pin/293930313162745127/** " (just look this one up in Google image)

But, I'm still trying to draw my own cover for this story and I might post in my instagram though I wouldn't count on it. :/

* * *

To **Sierra117:**

To be honest, yes, I intend to make those who knows Undertale as less as possible (though, not non-existent; I already have a few candidates who knows). I have my reasons though, one of them is simply this, " **The trend died long ago.** " Remember that this is set in the year 2020-ish where people are more hyped up with super HD graphics and eventually leading them to development of Virtual Reality Dive system. Oh and no, let's assume that Toby Fox never came back to make another masterpiece like this one. Sad, but it's convenient to be honest. XD

* * *

So, sorry for not updating for so long, guys. Aside from being busy, I'll be honest, I simply lack motivation to write. Help me out here and review for me, will ya? Simple criticism, pointing out some mistakes, or perhaps sharing what you wanna see, or giving idea how things would go better, well anything works basically. Well yeah, sure, I have followers and those who favorited the story, and thanks a bunch to you guys for that, but still… without those kinds of reviews, I felt empty whenever I writer. Like… Oh I'm gonna grind my gears and try to make a good story but all I got was, "good. send more." It's not bad per se, but…

Meh, whatever. Don't wanna sound too desperate anyway. Not like you're going to read this, but for those who do read this and those who asked me to comeback like **FoxMan888** or **zack hopson** , I give you another chapter and I thank you from the bottom of my non-existent heart! (lol)

Hope it wasn't too fast paced, thought I did skip most of the trivial "they have normal days with shenanigans" stuffs but… truth to be told, I bet you guys just wanna see Sans abusing his powers and be badass throughout the game, right? Lol, me too, but picturing Sans as a hero is just… well, it doesn't suit him, in my opinion.

And even if he breaks the game, Sans too has his own limits.

Oh well, whatever, the next few chapters might be predictable, but fear not! I have big plans after Sans get back to Canon timeline, so please look forward to that.

Welp, see ya next chapt, Capt!

:v /


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